


The Fallen's Primal Legacy

by StrawberryGirl87



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Death, Creature Fic, Dark Harry, M/M, Mpreg, nundu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-03-15 15:04:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 61,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3451553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryGirl87/pseuds/StrawberryGirl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prolonged exposure to the evils of Voldemort's soul has drawn the darkest of creature inheritance from the Potter line that had long ago been forgotten. No one expected it or what would happen when Harry Potter became one of the most feared creatures in the wizarding world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Unexpected Transformation

Harry was getting far too big and too old to be locked in the cupboard under the stairs still, he wasn't as tall as an almost sixteen year old boy should have been due to being contained in such a small and confined space for so long as a child. Not to mention the constant starvation that his relatives had inflicted upon him throughout his life; which had already made him far too small for his age.

There was no way that at almost sixteen years of age that he should have still been able to fit into the tiny space that really should have been used to store the vacuum and the other cleaning supplies. The small space was dominated by a mattress that had no cover, instead piled upon it were the threadbare blankets that Harry used to keep warm. It was a pitiful sight to behold, most people wouldn't have even inflicted it upon their pets and yet this was the only space Harry could call his own.

It was ten minutes until Harry's sixteenth birthday. The summer so far had been unbearable for him, days of endless solitude where none of his family had really spoken to him, they hadn't even noticed that he was there apart from when they gave him his beatings. His relatives would laugh as they hit him, kicked him, Vernon occasionally using his belt. As a wizard Harry would heal a little faster than a muggle so as soon as the injuries were gone, they would start all over again.

No one from the wizarding world had spoken to him, not even to check up on him, to make sure that he was okay. No one really knowing what to say to him after what had happened at the end of the last school year. It had been his fault Sirius had died in the Ministry of Magic and there was no way that they could bring him back, Harry understood that now.

Guilt racked his body every day, knowing that he had been the cause of his Godfathers death, it had been his stupidity had got Sirius killed. There had been days where Harry had thought that he was no better than Voldemort. At least the Dark Lord was honest about what he did, he never pretended to be good, he killed outright and with no conscience. Harry simply caused the deaths of those he loved unintentionally but they were still dead regardless of the reason why and it was his fault.

Harry had been hoping that Ron or Hermione would try and talk to him at least, they were supposed to be his friends after all, regardless of his stupidity. He had hoped that they might send him a letter, invite him to come and stay with them, anything. It had been the one hope that had kept him focused on staying alive through all of the beatings that he had had to endure, however he had heard nothing from either of them all summer and he just didn't understand why.

Instead he had been suffering at the hands of his Aunt and Uncle, who as usual couldn't stand the sight of him in their home. Even Dudley, who had been frightened of him at least a little the past few summers that he had come back from Hogwarts had seemed to regain his courage somewhat and was more than happy to resume playing the role of the bully; picking on Harry whenever he had the chance, something that was fully encouraged by his parents of course they were, as always, so proud of their little diddykins.

It was probably the nightmares that Harry had been having that made him an easy target for his relatives to torment and torture. They had been frequent ever since the night Sirius had died and they were also the reason that his Uncle Vernon had locked him back in the cupboard again. Apparently Petunia and Dudley had been too scared of the relentless screaming to not have Harry locked up at night.

The door to his cupboard had been reinforced with a further three locks just to make sure that he wouldn't be getting out and they had also been smart enough to take away his wand before shutting him in and locking the door, ensuring that he was unable to escape through magic or brute strength. They hadn't wanted to take any chances that he might get out, Harry just counted himself lucky that they were remembering to feed him this time. He was at least getting small portions of food once a day and for that he was grateful, he hated the hunger that gnawed at his empty belly making him feel light headed and sick.

During Harry's younger years there had been occasions where they had just forgotten altogether. As a small child he had gone for days without food, he had had to resort to rummaging in bins to keep himself fed. It was not a time that he looked upon fondly now that he was a teenager. It was times like this that Harry wished that the rest of the wizarding world could see their hero, locked away, starving and beaten daily. He often day dreamed of what they would say, what they would do but there was never anyone here but him.

Harry had woken up from yet another nightmare, screaming for Sirius to come back, to not go through the veil but as usual it had all been in vain and he had woken with a jolt, gasping for breath, the reality of what had happened weighing down on him heavily, almost crushing him. His throat was raw and dry from his screams and he had no way to get water to soothe it since he was trapped inside his cupboard, he would have done anything for a glass of water right then.

As he tried to get his heart rate under control, he became overly aware that his skin was itching and crawling as if he were covered with tiny little bugs, scurrying all over him. In the cupboard it wasn't uncommon for spiders to scurry over him but they didn't bother him any more, this however, this was damn near terrifying. Reaching up he tried to brush the bugs away but found that there was nothing there, just his skin that was radiating heat like it was a furnace.

The air all around him was hot, almost boiling, slicking his body with sweat that was dripping from him and making it incredibly difficult to draw breathe. He had already stripped down to his boxers but his skin seemed to be heating up from the inside out. His chest felt restricted, as if his lungs were refusing oxygen.

A dull pain spread out over his body, starting in the very tips of his fingers, spreading up his arms, down his spine and all the way to his toes. It wasn't until this dull, almost tolerable pain transformed into something that felt more akin to being flayed alive, did Harry open his mouth and scream, unable to hold it back any more, the pain too unbearable to withstand in silence. His throat protested valiantly, but he couldn't stop, it hurt too much, Harry just wanted it to end.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, loud, angry footsteps that sent dust clouds and flaking paint to descend upon the now sixteen year old boy who had turned such as the clock had stuck midnight seconds before. He was writhing and screaming in agony as heat encompassed him, a strangled, hoarse scream escaping from his throat, yellow fur with black spots beginning to sprout across his skin.

Sharp elongated fangs grew painfully fast from his gums and Harry screamed again, scared and unsure of what was happening to him, his mind was rejecting the possibility of what was happening, he just couldn't process it, his mind retreating to safe place inside of him where it didn't have to deal with any of it.

Harry did not dare to even move for fear of being in more pain, triggering something else to happen that would hurt him even worse. The sound of his Uncle Vernon undoing each of the padlocks in turn was drowned out by the blood pounding in his ears. If he had heard him then he might have thought to shout a warning but he neither had the presence of mind nor the forethought to predict that he would be a danger to his relatives.

“Going to give you such a beating boy,” Vernon snarled viciously from the other side of the door, angry that he had been woken up yet again by his maniac of a nephew, he was so ashamed to call the boy anything familial, he was only glad that he was not related to him by blood.

Vernon was irritated to the point of violence because he had to be up early in the morning for work and yet Potter insisted on keeping them all awake until all hours of the day and night with his pathetic screaming and crying. The boy was a sad excuse for a human being and Vernon couldn't wait to be rid of him one way or another. All this screaming and crying like an infant child would not do, he had bullied and beaten Harry out of it when he was a child, he was fully prepared to do it again.

Vernon's words went unheard by Harry who was too busy staring at his hands, fear and terror coursing through him as he watched his nails lengthen, sharpen and turn themselves into the claws of a predator. His heart was beating so fast in his chest that he thought it might explode, the roaring in his ears only getting louder with each passing second of pain and agony.

Magic flowed across Harry's now furred skin as his back arched off the thin, lumpy mattress, twisting and convulsing painfully and at angles that should never have been possible for a human to bend to. Rolling himself over on to his stomach, Harry gasped for breath, every inch of his body feeling as if it were on fire.

His now clawed fingernails tore into the mattress, ripping the fabric to shreds as a roar of pain escaped from his already raw throat, more pain engulfed him as he struggled to predict which way his body might want to bend next, trying to preempt it before it happened to make whatever was happening, easier but it was all in vain and if possible caused him even more pain.

Harry didn't even notice when his Uncle ripped open the door to his cupboard, too consumed with what was happening to him to notice anything that was going on around him. The sight that met Vernon however was one that made him scream. He had never before seen anything as horrific as what was going on in the tiny cupboard, not even on the television.

The sound of bones popping out of their joints, muscles tearing and convulsing beneath the skin was all too much for Vernon Dursley who stood frozen in horror at the sight of what had once been his nephew but now was something else entirely. Harry Potter was no longer a slight teenager any more, he had become something else, something monstrous, something that didn't belong in the muggle world.

Vernon didn't even have time to shout out a warning to his wife and son, who were still sleeping, upstairs before the creature pounced on him, moving so silently and swiftly that there was no way Vernon could have expected or avoided the attack. Harry’s fangs extended to their full length as they clamped around the soft, fatty flesh of the man's neck. The creature had hit him squarely in the chest and the force of the impact had them both falling to the ground, the creature that Harry had become on top, preparing for the kill.

The jaws of the beast tightening their hold upon the man's neck before tearing out the jugular, blood spurting out in all directions, splattering the patterned wall paper that Petunia had spent hours picking out and then spent a fortune paying a decorator to come and put up. The yellow flowered pattern was now tainted with red flecks of her husbands blood, the last beats of his heart allowing him to bleed to death.

A garbled sound escaped the older man's lips, his dying words inaudible and no one around to hear them. He tried to speak again as his life faded away but it wasn't going to be enough to save his family as the creature stepped over his large body and began to silently move up the stairs, careful not to make a sound.

\---------------------x

The headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was on his way to number four Privet Drive to collect Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world, and move him to the home of the Weasley's for the remainder of the summer.

He had meant to arrive earlier in the evening but he had been waylaid by the Minister of Magic who had been insisting on talking to him about Voldemort and what they were doing to destroy him. The wizarding world was in uproar at the return of the Dark Lord and Fudge was starting to panic too. Dumbledore however neither had the time nor the patience to deal with Fudge, especially considering the man had spent the past year bad mouthing him and destroying his reputation.

Tonight Albus had a job to do, he needed Harry to help convince Horace Slughorn to return to the school and teach potions. Severus would take over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor instead, a move that he hoped would break the curse on the position. He had it all worked out, he just had to put his plans in motion.

Privet Drive was still and silent when the headmaster arrived. It was half an hour past midnight and it was officially Harry's sixteenth birthday. The headmaster had not planned for it to work out this way but he thought that it was rather nice that he could take Harry away on his birthday, he knew that the teenager had a hard time while he was staying with his relatives, he was only sorry that he hadn't been able to take him away from them sooner.

The unfortunate demise of Sirius Black the previous school year had left a bad taste in everyone's mouths. No one really blamed Harry, he was just a child, instead they were blaming him because he had not prepared or tutored the boy well enough, he had not had the forethought to prevent this from happening, at least not until it had been too late to do anything about it.

The boy was growing up, there was no doubt about that, he had become a strong and reliable young man, dependable even and magically powerful too. It was time to start introducing the teenager to what needed to be done to end the war and destroy Voldemort, to prepare him in a way that the headmaster should have done the year before.

There were horcruxes that needed to be destroyed and he could not longer do that himself, not with his hand now cursed. After the way Harry had coped at the Ministry of Magic the previous year, Albus was sure that Harry would be both able and strong enough to do what was required of him and it was time to start down that long and winding road that would hopefully lead to the demise of one of the most dark and dangerous wizards their kind had ever known.

Approaching number four, an uneasy feeling was settling in his gut, something didn't feel right in this quiet little street tonight. Magic was thick in the air where it shouldn't have been in a neighbourhood full of muggles. Mrs Finch had not alerted him to any danger surrounding the house this evening and she was always keeping an eye on Harry.

It concerned him greatly that as he reached the front door of number four he could smell a slight metallic twang in the air, it was not a smell that belonged in the well kept muggle street. It was mixing in the air with the dark magic, intertwining like a sickly sweet perfume that enticed you in and promised the world but delivered nothing once it had you hooked.

Withdrawing his wand, expecting the worst, Dumbledore unlocked the front door with a simple swish and flick. It had been years since he had needed to utter the words himself both he and the wand that he had won in a duel many years ago were too powerful to need to utter the words of the most simple of spells.

Even as the lock of the door clicked open there was something else that made him feel rather uneasy. The wards around the house were weak, which was never supposed to happen. They were meant to hold until Harry turned seventeen, something was very wrong here. The only way that they could fail early was if the Dursley’s were dead and there was no one left to honour the protection that Lily had left for Harry.

The moment that the wards fell Voldemort and his followers would descend upon the house in droves, all of them wanting to claim Harry and present him to the Dark Lord and claim their reward for being such loyal and devoted servants.

Whatever had gone wrong here, Dumbledore had to prioritise. Finding Harry and ensuring his safety had to be the most important thing, nothing else mattered. If the wards fell then they would find other arrangements, there were always other safe houses to use. It was horrible but it was true, the future of the wizarding world lay upon the shoulders of sixteen year old Harry Potter, they needed him safe. Vernon, Petunia and Dudley Dursley were of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

Pushing open the front door, Albus was met with the sight of a large man that he recognized to be Harry's extremely prejudice Uncle. The man was lying quite still upon the ground, a large bloody hole where his throat had once been clearly stating that he was dead. Aside from the large neck wound the body was untouched but the rest of the house was in silence and that did not bode well for the other occupants.

Dumbledore kept a firm grip upon his wand as he took another step into the house ad against his better judgement he closed the door. They were in a muggle street and it would not do to have them realise that there was something going on inside this house, for if there was something that Albus Dumbledore was sure of, whatever had happened, dark magic was responsible. The second thing that he would have bet his life on was that whatever had killed Vernon Dursley was still in the house and he didn't want it getting out to slaughter more innocent people.

Vernon's blood coated the walls in a rather grotesque fashion, it was quite a sight to behold, the scent of death hanging heavy and thick in the air, mixing with the powerful dark magic that lingered throughout the rooms of this once happy family home. It made even the great and powerful Dumbledore not want to press forward and go deeper into the belly of the house, too afraid of what he might find here for he truly had no idea what could have done this.

While the wards still held, as fragile as they were currently, he knew that whatever had happened within these walls, it wouldn't be Voldemort but there were scarier things in the world than the Dark Lord. This was something that Albus knew to be true and he feared what it was that had managed to find itself in Harry's already difficult life. Whatever it was that had done this, it wasn't welcome and would be destroyed.

Albus hesitated a moment, taking his time to observe the body of the largely grotesque man, it looked as if Vernon Dursley had been either trying to free or attempting to contain something in the cupboard under the stairs, at least that was what it looked like. The elderly wizard frowned at the sight of at least three locks upon the door and he could only just about see the corner of the mattress within the cupboard.

He wasn't aware that the Dursley's had been locking Harry up again, if he had known then he would have made the effort to come and retrieve the boy sooner. It made him wonder just how bad things had become here without him noticing. He knew that it was even more important to find the teenager now, he needed to know that he was okay.

The headmaster's blood was running cold with fear, the only thing that kept him going was the adrenaline pumping through his system. He had no idea what he was about to face but he was hoping that Harry had had the state of mind to find his wand so that he at least had the chance to defend himself.

Stepping forward, towards the body, Dumbledore glanced into the small space that contained a tiny bed and little else. The thin mattress was torn to the point of being completely destroyed. However there was no blood in the small cupboard and that gave Albus hope that Harry might still be alive.

A low territorial growl coming from upstairs caught the headmasters attention, alerting him to the fact that whatever had killed Vernon Dursley was, as he had suspected, still in the house. Tightening his grip upon his wand, Albus steeled his nerves, preparing himself for whatever was up there.

Knowing that he had to find Harry, no matter what the cost, he glanced up into the darkness, knowing that something terrible was up there and he would have to face it alone, he didn't have time to summon help. He put his foot upon the first step and winched as the floor creaked loudly underfoot. He froze not daring to move, keeping his eyes focused on the landing just above him, watching for any sign of movement.

Silence descended, the darkness in the house almost consuming everything else, the headmaster didn't even dare mutter Lumos in case it triggered whatever was out there to attack. Albus stood, holding his breath waiting, though he wasn't exactly sure what it was that he was waiting for.

As he was steeling himself to take another step there was movement on the landing above and a large animal that looked remarkably like a leopard moved in the darkness, it's startling emerald eyes fixing upon the elderly wizard with hunger. Wanting to see the thing properly, Dumbledore flooded the hallway with light from the tip of his wand and what he saw terrified him.

Blood and skin hung from the creatures mouth, more blood coated the landing though there were no more bodies to see. Dumbledore could only imagine what had happened to Petunia and her son, Dudley and possibly even Harry too, there was no telling how long this creature had been in the house. He was really starting to wish that he had spent more time with the teenager, taught him how to apperate, taught him how to fight, anything to have prevented this.

There was a hungry gleam in the predatory green eyes that stared down at the headmaster, a low, threatening growl escaping from the animals hackles as it bared its teeth, showing it's unhappiness at being disturbed while it was feeding. This place belonged to this creature now, it had staked its claim and had come out on top, the last thing that Albus wanted was to challenge the creature.

In that moment as he stood staring at the magnificently beautiful and terrifying creature, Dumbledore was certain of only two things. The first was that the creature before him was a Nundu, a rare and frightening creature that was infamous for it's brutal and vicious nature, not to mention the amount of wizards it took to bring a single one down.

The second certainty that the elderly headmaster was aware of was that he was going to die tonight, in this house and there wasn't anything that he could do to stop it. He had walked into the Lion's den so to speak and he had come unprepared and for that he was going to die. There would be no hallows, no horcruxes left to save him and he was determined that he would greet death as an old friend and together they would depart this world as equals.

The Nundu was a creature that was considered by many to be the most dangerous beast alive and one had never been defeated by less than one hundred wizards working together to bring it down. This was how Dumbledore knew that he would never make it out of the house alive. He was powerful but he wasn't nearly powerful enough to take down a Nundu single handed.

Never in his entire, long existence had he ever thought that his life would end like this. The Nundu were rare, those that existed were native to East Africa, there had not been news of one in England since way before his time. They were rare and dangerous beasts indeed, to see one now was something amazing, a once in a lifetime experience, an experience that was going to end his life.

It was as the Nundu prepared itself to pounce that Albus Dumbledore realised why the startling eyes seemed so familiar to him. In the few seconds before his death the headmaster knew something vitally important about the creature that killed him, that it wasn't in fact a creature at all but a scared sixteen year old boy who had come into his creature inheritance without knowing what it was that was happening to him and as the creature he had reacted on instinct and protected himself in the only way he had known how in his creature form. It was just a shame that he didn't live long enough to share this with anyone else.  
\---------------------x

The moment that all three of the Dursley's were dead, the worst happened. Petunia Dursley was the one who lasted the longest, fighting for her life, however as she drew her last breath the protection wards around number four privet drive fell. The protection that Lily Potter had died to give to her one and only son had failed. It took a matter of minutes before the quiet street that rarely saw anything out of the ordinary happen was teeming with dark robed deatheaters.

All of the agents for the Dark Lord had come here with the aims of kidnapping Harry, wanting to present him to Voldemort and to get in his favour. They all had their wands drawn, ready for an attack as if it might be a trap, none of them wanted to fall into an ambush laid by the Order of the Phoenix.

However the thought of being the one to capture Harry Potter and deliver him to their Lord was just too tempting an opportunity to pass up. They all wanted a piece of this, they all wanted to be in the Dark Lord's favour and to earn his praise.

Bellatrix Lestrange was the first deatheater through the door, sending a spell towards it that had the door almost explode off it's hinges. Stepping into the entrance hall, the evil woman gave the body on the ground the briefest of glances, caring very little for it. Death didn't faze the witch at all, especially not the death of a muggle, if anything she was more likely to celebrate it than grieve.

The blood on the walls was of little consequence either, however she was a smart enough witch to recognize that the wounds upon the muggle were not from anything known to the muggle world, not with the scent of dark magic lingering so heavily in the air. Something was here, something dangerous.

“Baby Potty, come out and play,” she called into the darkness of the house with a mocking laugh, wanting to goad the teenager into doing something stupid. She was confident enough to believe that the sixteen year old wouldn't be able to defeat her in a duel.

Two other deatheaters were stood behind Bellatrix, their wands shining light into the otherwise dark house. The lucky two that had accompanied Bellatrix into the house while the others waited outside were Lucius Malfoy and Baine Mulciber. They were two people that Bellatrix felt confident enough in their ability to cover her back in case this was an ambush. She didn't want to take any chances.

It was the latter member of the group that seemed to be the most unnerved about the situation they were in however. The others wouldn't have been able to smell it but he could, he knew what had happened here. It was one of the many traits that the human Nundu had that made them rather powerful wizards.

Baine could distinguish the individual threads of scent in dark magic to what it was and also, most of the time, figure out what had been the cause of it too, he knew that in this house there was another like him, a sixteen year old boy that had just come into his inheritance. Baine knew that whoever it was, he was probably scared and had no idea what was happening to him. The fact that this muggle was lying dead on the ground was proof enough of that.

It had thrown him for a moment because it was an uncommon occurrence, the Nundu were extremely rare creatures in themselves, to find another human one was unheard of in this country, though it wasn't as if they had a register that they all signed. The creature they became was feared and many wizards hid it from those that would persecute them. There could have been hundreds and he wouldn't have known about them, there was only one who knew what he was.

Baine had come into his inheritance when he was sixteen too, and all because he had been so involved in the dark arts that it had touched his very soul, infecting him like a disease. Of course there had to be some form of underlying Nundu blood from one of his ancestors because being touched by dark magic just wouldn't be enough. However as the clock had struck midnight on the eve of his sixteenth birthday the creature had exploded from him.

He was fortunate that he had not been at school at the time, just as this teenager was, however he had killed both of his parents in his first transformation, or so he had been told. He didn't remember any of it and neither would this young man, the first change was too brutal, too painful on the mind and the body, it was a defensive mechanism not to remember.

It was Severus who had told him what had happened on that night, his childhood friend who he had bonded with in Slytherin house when they had gone to school together. They were friends even now and Snape was the only one whom Baine trusted not to share his secret with anyone.

Baine said nothing as they moved through the lower level of the house looking for Potter and for the thing that had been powerful enough to get through the wards and do what needed to be done to bring them down.

These other deatheaters had no idea the advantage that Baine had, he kept what he was a closely guarded secret. He was a creature of renowned evil, he knew that the Dark Lord would exploit him if he ever found out what he was.

There was a reason that there was only one other person who knew what he was, however Severus Snape was not here to confide in, he had had other business to contend with tonight. The man was a spy, keeping tabs on Dumbledore and reporting back to the Dark Lord, so tonight Baine was going to have to make this decision alone and decide what to do without any assistance.

“Upstairs,” Lucius hissed, keeping his voice low, though he wasn't sure why. Bellatrix had made enough noise entering the house and shouting that a few whispered words were not likely to matter, however the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. He knew that something wasn't right here, even he who worshipped the dark arts didn't like the uneasy feeling of being here, it just felt so wrong and unnatural.

“Something is not right here,” Baine said, wanting to warn the others but there was very little that he could say to discourage them. Saying anything else and he might give away that he wasn't entirely human. The last thing he wanted was for the likes of Lucius and Bellatrix to know that he had some form of creature blood in him, out of all of Voldemort's followers these two were the worst and would exploit him until he drew his last breath if they ever found out what he was.

“Scared, Mulciber,” Lucius sneered in mocking. It was all a front though, he was just as terrified and agreed wholeheartedly that something just felt wrong in this house. The dead muggle on the floor with his throat torn out, the dark magic that hung heavily in the air, it was probably very sensible to be scared.

“Just cautious,” Baine returned rather sharply as Bellatrix started up the stairs, fearless and careless to the end, the two men following in her wake as two more deatheathers came in through the front door.

A low warning snarl had the three on the stairs all freezing in place, even Bellatrix who, although careless and a little reckless, was by no means stupid and knew a dangerous predator when she heard one. “What is that?” She hissed, half looking over her shoulder at her brother-in-law who shrugged his shoulders, having no clue but feeling the urge to turn tail and run.

Baine had a horrible feeling that he knew exactly what it was but he couldn't tell them, couldn't warn them, not without telling them what he was and giving away his deepest secret, something that he was not willing to do, not even to spare their lives.

What confused Baine however was whether or not the young boy who had become a human Nundu tonight was Harry Potter or in fact another witch or wizard who had stumbled across the house of the boy wizard accidentally. The latter option just seemed to be too much of a coincidence but Baine wouldn't rule anything out.

The more he thought about it though, it made sense that the Nundu was the Potter boy, it was a shame but undeniable that the poor boy had had so much exposure to darkness that it really wasn't surprising. The shock was that Potter had the Nundu blood in his family line at all, it was something that Baine was going to have to look into.

Voldemort had tried to kill Potter several times already, the teenager had had his blood used in the ritual to bring the Dark Lord back to his own body, all of this was bound to have affected the young and impressionable teenager in an adverse way. Baine actually found himself feeling sorry for Potter, after all, he knew that the first transformation was not easy and even when that was done you still had to hide away your true nature for the rest of your life out of fear of retribution.

“What is that, at the top of the stairs?” Baine asked, shifting his wand light to see if he could make out the dark shape in front of them. The three of them were stood half way up the staircase when they realised what it was that they were seeing.

The half eaten body of Albus Dumbledore, the great wizard staring at them through empty blue eyes that were completely void of the life, the twinkle that had once taunted so many a witch and wizard long gone. The half moon spectacles half hanging off him at an angle, blood speckled upon the lenses.

It took a long moment for the three prominent deatheaters to process what it was that they were seeing and by this point it was too late to do much about it as the Nundu raised his head to glare at the intruders that had dared to interrupt his meal.

Yellow fur was flecked with blood, it's muzzle stained crimson, intestine still hanging from it's jaws as the creature chewed some unknown and unrecognisable part of Albus Dumbledore's organs. A low growl echoing from it's throat in warning as Bellatrix pointed her wand at the creature only for Lucius to knock it back down to her side instantly.

“Don't be stupid,” he hissed at her quietly, “Don't you know what that is?” He had never seen one himself, having never travelled to their native country, however he knew what they were and the sight of it before him now only made his fear heighten. If Lucius Malfoy was ever going to fear for his life then it was going to be in the face of this beast.

“It can't be,” she snapped back. Bellatrix could not believe that this creature was something so rare and so dangerous, it was near enough impossible and yet there it stood, green eyes glowing in the minimal light as it watched the three intruders.

“It can be,” Baine said, glad that they seemed to know what it was without him telling them, which would have only raised questions that he couldn't answer. Lucius Malfoy knew more about dark creatures and dark magic than most wizards, Bellatrix would have no reason not to believe him when he told her what it was that they were facing.

“It can take over a hundred wizards to bring one of those down, if you start firing spells you'll only piss it off and then we're all dead,” Lucius said as he took a step backwards. Baine following suit, not daring to turn his back on the creature. Unless he transformed then he was just as susceptible to an attack as any of the others. The poison in the fangs might not have killed him but the fangs could still do what they were intended to do and tear him to shreds.

Slowly even Bellatrix began to back down the stairs, the Nundu still snarling at them in warning. They had been lucky tonight, the creature had been feeding and had had enough meat not to need to kill again. He was too busy feeding to attack those that trespassed on him now, however if they got closer or threatened him in any way then he wouldn't hesitate.

“Where's Potter then?” Bellatrix hissed when they reached the bottom of the stairs, the horror of what they had seen upstairs still lingering in the minds. The scent of blood so thick in the air that it was hard to draw breath without tasting it at the back of your throat. It was making Lucius a little sick to the stomach, Bellatrix didn't mind too much and Baine was too used to it to notice much.

“Either that thing killed him or...” Lucius said with a wince, realising what it was that he was suggesting. It was insane, he knew how rare it was and he didn't want to make himself seem to be a fool. However it would be just Potter's luck to have been exposed to enough dark magic to turn into such a beast.

“Or...” Bellatrix demanded rather impatiently as the three of them plus the other two deatheaters that had been brave enough to come inside of the house hurried out of the front door, not wanting to risk provoking the creature into an attack by staying in a place it had clearly claimed as his own.

“That is Potter,” Baine finished, realising that this was where Lucius had been going and that there was no way that they could hide it. Voldemort would know soon enough now and then the Dark Lord would stop trying to kill Potter and start trying to recruit him.

“We should report this to the Dark Lord,” Lucius said somewhat nervously. Reporting anything back to the Dark Lord was a rather dangerous task to undertake, however the news that Albus Dumbledore was now dead would no doubt cheer him up, make him jubilant even. The problem was that the information that Harry Potter seemed to be a dark magical creature that was rare and dangerous.

“We're leaving him to roam free?” Baine questioned in shock. He had known that as a deatheater they had a certain disregard for life but to let a Nundu run free and unchecked was barbaric, even for them.

“Do you want to try and contain that thing?” Lucius asked, clearly challenging Baine. He wasn't stupid, he was not about to go back up those stairs. No amount of galleons would make him face the Nundu again, he knew that they were highly dangerous and nigh on impossible to subdue without a huge force to back you up. Their breath alone was toxic, he wasn't going to be getting any closer to it if he could help it.

“Not alone,” Baine snarled, glaring at Lucius with hatred. He loathed to allow the beast to go free, the first transformation was always the worst. He would have no control at all, it was something that came with time and with practice but it was never going to be an easy transformation when you had no idea what was happening to you.

It looked as if Potter had killed his family and then killed Dumbledore when the man had come to see him too. Baine doubted very much if Potter was going to survive the guilt that he would feel over this if he ever realised what it was that he had done. The boy was too inherently Gryffindor not to be weighed down by what he had done, even knowing he had no control over it.

Some creature inheritance was widely known about, however the Nundu were so rare that that they were believed to be extinct. In Great Britain it was practically unheard of to have any of them, at least to Baine's knowledge, there was no way that the young man could have predicted this happening.

Baine found himself wanting to know for certain who it was that had transformed tonight, though he was fairly sure that it was Harry Potter, the strange thing was however that he had an undeniable urge to protect him, regardless of who he was. It was writhing in his gut, clawing at him, wanting him to change forms and go to the boy. He had been a human Nundu for too long however and his control was better than that, though he would not able to hold off all night. He would go to the boy one way or another.

He had no idea why this urge was starting to take over but it was so strong that he couldn't deny that it was there. He ended up putting it down to the two of them being the same species and nothing more, at least he could think that for the moment because there was no other explanation that he could think of for what he was feeling. He felt so drawn to the Nundu in the house that it was driving him to distraction and he couldn't really afford to be distracted. He knew how dangerous his kind were when in their creature form.

Baine knew that as soon as the other deatheaters were gone that he would take the opportunity to make the transformation and track down the new Nundu and protect him. As the murderer of the great Albus Dumbledore he would be hunted and he would need to be shielded from that. Baine knew that he would do whatever it took to protect this young creature and he couldn’t even explain why.


	2. No Turning Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry Wakes up to find that everything has changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the fantastic comments that I've received for Chapter One of this story. I really hope that you enjoy chapter two as much. 
> 
> I'm hoping that the next chapter I update will be for The Affliction of War but it is still in progress as is Chapter three of Primal Legacy so we will see. Real life has kissed my arse these last couple weeks but slowly getting back to normal. 
> 
> Please enjoy.

It was hours before Baine was able to return to Privet Drive in his other form. It was a lot closer to dawn than he would have liked; however, he wouldn't have dared return in his human form, it would have been too dangerous. Now that he was in his Nundu state the need to find the teenager was heightened, the scent of the young male was arousing almost and spurring him on to find him and look after him.

He never knew if he preferred being on two legs or four, being a Nundu was something else entirely. His eyes sharper, his nose more sensitive to the more subtle of scents in the air. Hearing his claws clicking against the concrete of the road gave him a sense of power; he was so much stronger in this form, simply better. People would run from him screaming, no one daring to approach because he was feared. 

Entering the house through the door that Bellatrix had blasted off it’s hinges earlier in the night, he paused; the scent of blood was overwhelmingly strong, more so than when he had been here earlier in the night. The body by the front door made his stomach growl hungrily as the unique scent of human flesh wafted up his nostrils, tempting him.

He hadn't eaten in several hours and he was regretting that now as his stomach protested loudly, but he had more pressing issues to deal with, he couldn't be distracted by his need for a meal. If it came down to it he would feed when dawn had broken, when he was sure that his fellow Nundu was safe and out of harm’s way.

Baine didn't bother to be stealthy; the Nundu, as a species, were naturally quiet creatures despite their large size but the young Nundu upstairs would be able to smell him coming regardless of how quiet he was. However, the transformation would have been difficult and Baine was sure that the newly transformed Nundu would be sleeping; though there was no way that he could be sure of this.

He knew that whoever it was would likely be scared and have no idea what was going on, so he had to be careful about how he approached him; he didn't want to startle the other Nundu and end up scaring him more. The consequences of this could only mean more death and destruction.

Using his acute sense of smell, Baine padded gently up the stairs trying to scent out his fellow Nundu through the stench of blood and new death. The body of Albus Dumbledore lay sprawled on the landing, exactly where it had been when he had been there a few hours previously in his human form. The only difference between then and now was the large cavity where the elderly wizard’s stomach had once been. Baine knew if he took a moment to peer inside, he would find most of the organs gone; they were, of course, the best bit.

The young Nundu had clearly had his fill for the night because he was no where to be seen now. Even Baine was finding it difficult not to eat, he was starving and the scent of the fresh kill was wafting up his nose, tempting him. He did, however, like to avoid human meat if at all possible; it never tasted right to him and it was this thought alone that stopped him from feasting. They were too chewy and stringy and tended to get stuck in his teeth for days. 

It wasn't difficult to scent out the newly transformed Nundu; Baine found him in the smallest of the four bedrooms upstairs. The creature that he suspected was Harry Potter had curled up in a tight ball after managing to crawl halfway under the bed and was clearly now sleeping; blood covered his muzzle from where he had been feeding, the yellow fur tinged a horrible orangey colour from the blood.

There were more bodies up on this floor too, bodies that Baine hadn't bothered to go and find. He didn't need to see the carnage, he had suffered through his own first transformation, he knew what horrors would greet him if he ventured into the other rooms. He didn't need to see that and he didn't think that this new Nundu needed to see it either; the guilt and pain of what he had done would be bad enough, the teenager didn't need the imagery to go with it.

Baine needed to remove them both from the house as soon as possible, it simply wasn’t safe for them here, he needed to find them somewhere else to go for the remainder of the night because otherwise they were going to be caught.

With the front door wide open it wasn't going to be long until the other muggles that resided on the street realised that something was wrong and came to investigate. It wasn’t far off dawn now, the muggles would soon be waking up and they had to be gone before they did. Also someone was bound to have noticed that Dumbledore was missing by now, someone was always looking for him for some reason or another. It wasn’t going to be long before someone came looking for him here.

There was no way that Baine would be able to fit even part way under the bed like the other creature had; the newly transformed beast was far smaller than he ought to have been at sixteen years old and it showed in this form. Baine suspected the young Nundu had been under-fed and that was the reason that he was small in this form. Of course Baine couldn’t be sure this was the case, not until he had seen the teenager in his human form as well, something that would happen soon enough.

Laying down as close as he could to the younger Nundu, Baine pressed his muzzle against that of the other creature, tongue coming out to clean the blood from the yellow fur. The younger creature stirred gently from sleep, roused by the rough tongue as it licked away the blood.

Sleepy emerald eyes blinked several times, trying to focus and make sense of what he was seeing as he roused from sleep, trying to work out what was happening. Baine was surprised that the younger Nundu didn't growl or show any sign of hostility towards him, instead allowing him to continue to clean the blood from his muzzle, occasionally nuzzling into him as if the two of them were familiar to one another.

The scent of the younger creature started to niggle into Baine's brain and in his transformed state he suddenly realised why his urges to protect the boy were so strong. This new Nundu was a sixteen year old, newly transformed submissive.

He was shocked to say the least, the surprise mixing with anticipation and excitement as he came to realise what he had discovered in this new Nundu. It explained a lot, especially why the young creature wasn't acting hostile at all; the submissive Nundu needed their dominants and the genetics of their kind dictated that they be drawn to each other.

The younger creature lay his head down upon his front paws, looking up at the larger Nundu, wide emerald eyes studying Baine with interest. There was no sign of fear in his eyes or even in the way he was acting.

It was the species’ way of trying to survive when they were so close to extinction. The submissives of their kind were rare, hell the dominants were rare too, though the submissive’s more so. Baine didn’t know of any others like them. He couldn’t believe how lucky he had been to discover this other creature. If he hadn’t come here tonight… the thought just didn’t bear thinking about.

They were close to being wiped off the planet as a species and it had become hard wired into their DNA to be attracted to one another, for the submissives to submit willingly and eagerly to the dominants that were strong enough to protect them and any future cubs.

Baine now knew that he would be able to get the young Nundu to safety without fuss or hassle because the submissive would follow him without question, at least until they were back in their human form. It was when they reverted to their human forms that they would have their problems.

Standing, Baine stretched out before he nudged the other creature gently with his nose, encouraging him to get up until the young Nundu was on his feet. The younger of the two of them was moving slower and more sluggishly than he should have been, however, that was likely due to the transformation having taken a lot out of him.  
It wasn’t at all surprising that the younger creature was so exhausted; the transformation, combined with killing so many people, meant that all he would really want to do was sleep for a few days. Blaine understood this, sympathised even but he knew that if they stayed here then they would both be killed and he couldn't allow that to happen.

\-----------*

 

Harry awoke feeling warm and comforted, he wasn't where he thought he should be but with sleep still clouding his mind he didn't feel as if he were in any danger, in fact quite the opposite. He had never felt safer or happier than he did that morning, not even at Hogwarts; it was almost as if someone had lit a fire in his belly and the warmth and heat was spreading through his entire body.

He smiled as he remembered that it was his sixteenth birthday today and he wondered whether or not his friends would send him cards, whether the Dursley's would give him their usual gift of socks or dog biscuits. Even though he didn't hold out much hope for a large celebration, it was still his birthday and he got to be happy today of all days.

He froze in shock as he felt something move around his waist, long and warm, tightening it's hold upon him. He felt a sudden breath upon his neck, and Harry felt his heart rate increasing; although he was now far more alert than he had been moments before, he felt no need to protect himself. The feeling of safety stayed stubbornly with him despite there being someone else curled at his back, snuggling into him, holding him close, cuddling him.

It took him a moment after the shock of realising there was someone sleeping around him to realise that he had somehow ended up outside and in some kind of wooded area. The ground was soft beneath him and he seemed to have been using a tree root as a rather uncomfortable pillow.

He tried to think back to the night before, keeping very still so that whoever lay behind him, spooning him didn't stir. He couldn't remember anything; the harder Harry tried to recall what had happened the harder it was to summon up the memories that he desired. He could recall the nightmare, where he had been screaming for Sirius, he knew that he had woken up and that it must have been a hot night because he had been so warm but after that... nothing.

The air was cool here and even though it was light out the sun had not climbed enough to be seen through the trees, Harry predicted that it couldn't have been much after dawn. He expected to feel hungry but his stomach felt oddly full and a strange feeling of happiness and contentment washed over him. He wasn’t sure why he felt this way but it was a nice feeling regardless and he didn’t want to question it too much; it was so rare for him not to feel afraid.

Harry felt protected, cared for even, these feelings were not ones he had experienced a lot in his life and so he treasured them now. It was, however, a strange sensation to have when waking up in the middle of a wooded area after falling asleep in a cupboard, especially considering the stranger dozing lightly behind him.

As a slight breeze brushed over him, sending shivers across his whole body, Harry was made startlingly aware that he was completely naked. He knew he had stripped down to his boxers because of the heat the night before but now even they were gone.

His cheeks flushed with embarrassment as the person behind him shifted slightly and made himself known to be male as a hard cock brushed against the small of his back. Apparently the man behind him was naked too. Harry’s first instinct was to panic but this feeling didn’t come as he had expected, he couldn’t understand why he was remaining so calm about it. There was a naked man cuddling him… there was no way that he should have been calm, and yet he was.

Moving a little, Harry shifted positions as gently as he could manage, turning to look at the man who held him in his large, muscled arms. His eyes swept over rich brown hair that fell in a wave to the man’s shoulders, dark lashes that complimented the shade of his hair rested against the older man’s cheeks in sleep.

It startled him to see that the man was one whom he recognised, the strong, prominent cheek bones and defined lips were all features that he had seen before, though it was a vague recognition and it took a moment for Harry to realise when and where he had seen the man's face. Even then he had to glance down at the man's left forearm to confirm that the man currently giving him cuddles in the middle of a forest was in fact a deatheater.

As he made this realisation and allowed it to sink in that this man was technically an enemy, someone who could potentially want to kill him, Harry still couldn't bring himself to be afraid. He wanted to be, he wanted to get up and run away in fear of his life; this man was in league with Voldemort after all. He had no idea why he remained exactly where he was, in the arms of a potentially dangerous man whose face he had seen on countless wanted posters. 

“Why am I not afraid of you?” Harry asked softly, his tone one of intrigue. What he hadn’t expected was for intense brown eyes to flicker gently open and focus on him; they had a dark, brooding intensity to them that made Harry want to just stare into them, admiring the flecks of amber hidden deep within the chocolate brown iris'.

The man sat up, his eyes fixed on Harry, drinking in every inch of him to the point that Harry felt as if he were under a microscope and being studied, not liking the intensity of the stare. He was used to blending into the background, going unnoticed or purposefully ignored by his family. No one had ever got close enough to him to see him so exposed, so vulnerable. At school he was protected by the persona of being the famous Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived; here there was none of that, here he didn’t even have clothing.

Whoever this man was he clearly felt no shame in being completely naked with a raging hard on and Harry could understand why. He was handsome, prominent cheek bones, a nose found on Greek statues in museums, thick brown hair that fell in luscious waves to his shoulders that, now he was sitting up, Harry could fully appreciate and a light dusting of dark stubble along his jaw.

The lightly muscled body and olive skin made Harry feel extremely undesirable in comparison; he was small, had no definition to his chest and his cock was no where near as long or as thick, but he was hard too, his erection straining up to reach his stomach. His hands were trembling with embarrassment but he still couldn’t bring himself to look away from this man who was staring at him so intently. 

He couldn't explain it but Harry wanted this man, desperately. He had never taken the time to truly analyse his preferences sexually. Between fighting for his life at Hogwarts year after year and the abuse he suffered every summer when he returned to Privet Drive he had never had the opportunity, but there was no way that he could deny the desire that was sweeping through him, trying to take control.

“What do you remember of last night?” Baine asked, ignoring the question that Harry had asked moments before, his gaze never leaving Harry's. He was rather amused at the first question the young man had asked. Out of everything that Harry Potter could have said or done, it was not what Baine and been expecting.

“Not much,” Harry admitted as he too sat up, turning to face the stranger. “I remember going to sleep and having a nightmare but after that it all goes a little fuzzy and…” he paused, looking alarmed at his almost involuntary honesty. He hadn’t told anyone about his nightmares, they had been his and his alone, at least until now. “Why am I telling you this, you're a deatheater…!” he exclaimed. “I don't understand why you're not trying to kill me or take me to him... why I'm not scared of you.” These were all things that he expected to feel and he didn’t feel any of them, he wasn’t even remotely scared and he knew that he should have been.

“Because you are like me,” Baine said gently, reaching one hand forward to brush his fingertips across Harry's cheek, finding that the need to touch the teenager in front of him was intense, the creature inside of him wanting to do what they had failed to do last night. Baine wanted this boy, needed him, and the creature inside him demanded that the submissive Nundu be claimed as his.

“I'm not like you,” Harry said, his voice a whisper as he lent into the touch, wanting the touch just as much as the other man but not understanding why. They were so close to one another and it suddenly didn't matter that he had a hundred question that needed to be answered, all that mattered was that they were here, they were alone and they were naked.

“You are not afraid of me,” Baine said softly, knowing that he needed to make Harry understand what was happening before he claimed him, it wouldn't do to have the teenager go into this blind, it simply wouldn't be fair. He would have to break this to him gently because it was likely not going to be taken very well. 

It was taking all of the self control that Blaine had not to just lean forward and kiss the sixteen year old in front of him, everything about the younger Nundu was tempting him, drawing him in. Harry shook his head in response to the question and Baine just smiled at him, “You want me as much as I want you,” he added with a smile, watching Harry carefully.

“Yes,” Harry said in a breathy whisper, his heart racing uncontrollably as the man lent forward so that their lips were inches apart. He couldn't have explained it to anyone who asked but he wanted this, wanted it more than he could put into words, as if something inside of him was driving him to it. He didn't even know the man's name, only that he knew they were meant to be like this, it was meant to happen, they were made for one another.

Logically he knew he shouldn't feel this way, but that didn't seem to matter, a more dominant part of his brain was screaming at him to allow this to happen. It was like there was a war going on inside of his head and the more Harry tried to analyse what he thought he should do and what his gut instincts were telling him the more his head hurt. However, if he didn't think about it, if he just allowed it to happen then it felt... right.

“Try to remember last night,” Blaine said gently, resting his forehead on that of the younger man, inhaling his scent, allowing it to fuel his desire for the teenager. “I need you to remember,” he added as his restraint began to fade at a steady pace.

Unable to stop himself, Baine moved his hand to cup the back of Harry's head, stroking the messy dark hair, caressing the teenager’s skull in a loving manner before he suddenly pulled him forward and into a fiercely passionate kiss.

It was nothing like the wet, sloppy snog that Harry had shared with Cho Chang the previous year in the room of requirement after the meeting of Dumbledore's Army; whatever that had been it didn't even come close to the intensity and desperation in this kiss. It was all flame and need, undiluted passion that Harry couldn't deny felt amazing. If he hadn't have been hard already then this kiss would have done the job in a heartbeat.

This man knew exactly what he was doing, there was nothing sloppy or inexperienced about it as he ran his tongue across Harry's, pulling him in deeper as he sucked on the teenager’s bottom lip, giving it a delicate nip. Harry moaned into the kiss as he reached forward, his hands coming to rest upon the defined chest, the skin warm beneath his palm as his hands flowed effortlessly over defined muscle.

Their tongues intertwined feverishly as Baine took control, deepening the kiss, the hand not gripping the back of Harry's head, snaking around the teenager’s waist, dragging him closer, the tips of their erections bumping together initiating a moan of pleasure from Harry. He had never been touched in that way before, at least not by anyone else; he had pleasured himself a few times but it wasn't something easily done in a dorm room full of teenage boys, at least not subtly as a few of them had found out.

Pulling back took a lot of self control but feeling Harry's hands on him was going to be too much to resist if the young man continued to touch him like this. Being this close to him, smelling him and his arousal, it made Baine want Harry all the more. He knew that he would be drawn to others of his kind but he had never imagined it to feel as strong or intense as this.

“What happened last night?” Harry asked, slightly breathless from the kiss, his heart hammering in his chest. He couldn't understand why, after a single night that he couldn't remember, he would be okay with everything that was happening. All the feelings in his headspace had somehow been rearranged so that he just didn’t feel like the same person anymore; this was better. 

He might have been naked in the middle of some kind of forest, kissing a complete stranger, who he didn't know the name of, and to make matters worse the stranger was clearly in league with Voldemort, but it didn’t feel wrong or as if he shouldn’t be there. It was completely mind boggling to him. “Why can't I remember?” Harry asked with confusion, looking at the older man imploringly, desperate for answers.

“Are you aware of what creature inheritance is?” Baine asked, watching Harry rather carefully, though making no move to put any distance between them, he rather liked them as close as this. He wanted to remain as close to Harry as physically possible, at least until he had claimed him as his own, which was going to be this morning if he had anything to say in the matter.

His instincts would not allow him to leave the teenager unattended until they had mated. Baine feared that someone else would realise just how rare and beautiful Harry was and try and steal him away, something that Baine would not allow. He would fight to the death to keep Harry with him.

Harry shook his head, creature inheritance was never something that had been discussed in any of his classes at school and he wasn't as big of a book worm as Hermione who would no doubt have known every detail about it without hesitation. Thinking about her made him think about Ron too and that caused him a dull ache in his chest; he missed them a lot. Harry couldn't think about them now though, there was too much else to think about, too much else to worry about, so he pushed that feeling away as quickly as possible, needing to focus on the present.

“It is what happened to you last night,” Baine said gently, watching Harry for any sign that he was going into shock or denial about the situation. However, surprisingly, the teenager seemed to be relatively calm about the whole thing. In fact he seemed to be contemplating it rather thoughtfully as if trying to decide how to react.

“So... I... became a monster?” Harry asked, thinking over each word carefully as he tried to process the new information. He wasn't sure how to take it but he was thinking very hard on what the stranger was telling him, though he wasn't sure that he really understood. “Like a werewolf?” he asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

Baine sighed, he had a lot of patience for the young man but he knew that they weren’t entirely safe here, he just needed for Harry to understand, to know that they weren’t monsters. “I don't believe that we are monsters, Harry, but we are not like Werewolves, such creatures are bound to the phases of the moon, whereas we are not. We are something else entirely.” Baine explained, his thick, luscious voice speaking calmly and gently, almost soothingly to the teenager.

The tone of his voice made Harry really listen to what he was saying and take in the information he was providing, if he had had teachers like this at school he would have had much better results in his end of year exams. Harry's mind, however, seemed to be in overdrive, trying to work out what this meant for him, whether he was good or evil, whether he was even a person any more.

As this inner turmoil raged inside of him, his exterior remained calm and withdrawn, having found that there was no use kicking, screaming or crying. Things happened and adverse reactions could often lead to punishment, as his Uncle had so aptly taught him. Harry would take the time he needed to before reacting; the last time he had reacted without thinking it had got Sirius killed, never again.

The teenager was silent in contemplation and seemed to frown at the stranger as he processed what he had been told. “It hardly seems fair that you know my name and I don't know yours,” he said as he ran his fingers lazily up a naked thigh without even really thinking what he was doing, he felt the older man shiver a little beneath his delicate touch and smiled. He knew this man by surname only because of the wanted posters but Harry wanted a more formal introduction seeing as they were in the situation they were. 

“My name is Baine Mulciber,” Baine said, looking into Harry's emerald orbs, amazed at the sudden change of direction in what they were discussing. This young man seemed to be truly remarkable, of course he had heard the stories but clearly they had not come close to the real thing. The thing was, Baine didn't want to treat Harry like the celebrity he was thought to be, he wanted to treat him like a person, like his mate, Just not quite sure where you were going with it. which he would be very soon, Baine was certain of it.

“And you're a deatheater,” Harry stated, not outwardly afraid, his tone simply matter-of-fact. His tone did not reflect the inner conflict at all, but he knew that panicking about it wouldn't get him anywhere. He simply wanted answers and he knew that this rather handsome and very naked man in front of him was the best way to get them.

Baine studied Harry closely, trying to figure out the frame of mind that the teenager was in. A lesser man would have been panicking, yelling, shouting and he couldn't understand why Harry wasn't. The teenager was amazing if he wasn't even a little freaked out by what was happening to him, though it was very difficult to figure out what the younger man was thinking. He kept himself very closed off, regardless of how closely Baine studied him. 

He could remember the moments before his own transformation when he had turned sixteen, he had been terrified and he had had no one to help him. He had slaughtered his entire family that night while in his Nundu form only to awake the next morning and find the bodies of all those that he loved. There had been so much blood and even now what he had done haunted him even though he couldn’t remember actually doing it. He knew it would be the same for Harry, it would be something they could share and deal with together. 

“I am but it was not by choice,” Baine said with a frown, though remaining very calm as he continued to try and figure out the younger man. He wasn't sure what to make of the teenager, who seemed to be completely unperturbed by what was happening to him. He had never met the famous boy wizard before, very few outside of Hogwarts had but of course he had been told about him endlessly, not to mention seen the many articles in the Daily Prophet; though the pictures in the paper had not done the boy justice, either that or the creature inheritance had been good to him.

“And you said that you're like me,” Harry continued slowly, picking his words with care, knowing that he was in a rather precarious situation, carrying on his train of thought as if Baine hadn't said anything.

The closeness between them was driving the older man to distraction, the teenager’s fingers idly stroking his thigh almost without thinking about it. Baine knew that he couldn't rush into this, not if he truly wanted to claim Harry as his own and have the teenager accept that he had been claimed and not run a mile at the thought.

“I am,” Blaine said, nodding his head. His hand going forward and taking Harry's within his own, linking their fingers together, wanting any form of contact that he could have with the teenager. It also stopped the younger man from tracing small patterns across his skin with his finger tips, making Baine desperate to pin Harry to the ground and ravish him.

“So what am I then, what are we?” Harry asked, not making any move to pull his hand away, just accepting it. He found that he actually rather liked the feeling of his hand being held by this man, something Harry had never thought he would feel in relation to a deatheater. However, even as he surveyed Baine, Harry could tell that the man would never harm him, not intentionally; Baine would keep him safe.

“Are you sure that you are ready?” Baine asked, not wanting to overload Harry with information that he simply wasn't ready for. He wanted the teen to understand and accept but equally he knew that it wasn't a good idea to overwhelm him with things that he couldn’t comprehend.

Baine had heard so many far fetched and overstated stories about the teenager and all of them were impressive beyond any doubt but it made him wonder how much of them were the truth and how many of them had been laced with lies and exaggerated fact. Sitting in front of the famous boy wizard now, Baine could hardly believe everything that he had been told, not when Harry seemed to be so normal, so unremarkable and yet so perfect all at the same time.

“Whatever happened last night, I want to know,” Harry said with determination, looking Baine in the eye with confidence that he wasn't sure that he could back up if it came to it. “I need to know,” he said firmly, knowing that it was the truth. He didn’t want to be left in the dark about anything ever again. Dumbledore had failed to give him the entire truth about what Voldemort was doing to him last year and it had ended up with Sirius dying. Never again. 

“I worry that I have already told you too much,” Baine said gently, continuing to study Harry's face for any sign that this really had been too much to take in all at once. It seemed rather remarkable that he was still holding together with the weight of so much new information.

“What you're telling me is... I've never heard of it. I'm meant to have transformed into some kind of creature and I don't know whether to believe it or not,” Harry said, maintaining eye contact and speaking as if he knew what he wanted when in truth he wasn't entirely sure. “All I know is that I feel different and I want to know why.”

Baine nodded his head, understanding Harry's need for answers. It was completely understandable that the teenager had so many questions. The first transformation was always tough on the mind and the body. However, it was a blessing that you didn't remember the pain and the terror, Baine knew that it would have crushed the young boy to know what he did.

“I have no idea where I am, I have no clothes, no wand and yet I've never felt safer,” Harry continued, his brow furrowing in confusion as he assessed the way that he was feeling, summarizing it for the man who sat before him listening to him intently. “Baine, please, tell me what happened.”

Of course, despite the desperate pleading for answers, Baine hesitated for a moment, taking the time to evaluate the teenager who seemed remarkably calm considering everything that was going on and the situation he had woken up and found himself in. However, he knew that Harry was right, he did need to know, it was just that Baine could think of several things they could be doing that were a lot better than just talking.

It was those more pleasurable things that were going round and round in his head, distracting him and making his cock ache for release. He was certain that never before in his thirty six years had his want for another person ever been this painful. He had understood that his Nundu would draw him towards a mate but this desire was almost intolerable.

Judging by the erection that the teenager was sporting it seemed that Harry was feeling the same way and he went up ten times in Baine's already high estimations simply for being able to hold back and not act on instinct just so his questions could be answered.

Baine sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he couldn't escape the explanation and if Harry was strong enough to resist his natural urges to find a mate then he probably deserved to have the answers that he wanted. The least Baine could do was tell the truth or as close to the truth as he could without hurting the teenager. Giving him perhaps a condensed version and hoping that he got the chance to explain it all in more detail later.

“You,” Blaine began, “like me, are a human Nundu.” He made sure to speak slowly and carefully, wanting to give Harry the opportunity to digest this new piece of information, though he didn't want to make it appear as if he thought Harry stupid, it was a fine line to cross and Baine watched carefully to insure that he wasn't offending the younger man.

Harry was silent for a few moments, clearly taking it in. “I've heard of those,” he finally said, looking up and meeting the deep brown eyes of the older man, staring into them rather intently, “They're dangerous, vicious... how can I be one of them? I don't understand...”

To Harry's credit he didn't sound upset or even panicked at what Baine and told him. He seemed confused, lost even, but he wasn't scared and he certainly wasn't running away either. Another perk of the creature inheritance, acceptance. It became easier, something in your brain just clicked and you knew that what was happening was right, you didn't have to fight it.

“Now is not the time for a history lesson on what we are,” Blaine said regretfully, raising the hand of Harry's that he was still holding it and placing a kiss upon it, “we cannot stay here much longer,” he added.

He wanted to be able to tell Harry everything that the teenager wanted to know and more, give him all the answers to each question that he asked but they were sitting butt naked in a forest which was no doubt in a highly trafficked muggle area judging by the scents of both human and canine that lingered here. It was only because it was so early that they hadn't already been discovered. Time was short and Baine was painfully aware of this; he needed to mark his claim on the boy and he needed to do it soon.

Harry nodded his head to show that he understood what he was being told, this conversation could wait, it would have to. “I should go back,” he said, a hint of sadness to his voice, “everyone will be wondering where I am.”

Baine felt a little regretful that Harry still believed that he could go back, that he didn't understand what he had done and that because of what he was it wasn't likely that he could ever go back. His precious Order of the Phoenix and Ministry of Magic would never accept him now. They would fear him instead, fear him as much as they feared Voldemort. Now Harry Potter was a monster, one with immense magical power, he was someone that deserved to be feared.

“Harry, do you believe that you can trust me?” Baine asked, he needed to make sure that Harry understood one thing, that he couldn't go back to that house again. Auror's would be there, Order of the Phoenix members would be there too, they would be mourning the death of Albus Dumbledore and searching for their golden boy, looking for answers about what had happened.

Baine brought up his free hand to caress at Harry's cheek, relishing the fact that the teenager made no move to pull away from the soft touch, instead leaning into it as if it were a familiar action and the two of them had been lovers for years.

“I don't know you,” Harry said honestly, his voice trembling a little, almost as if he had wanted to say yes but the rational part of him was rejecting the idea. His human brain was still battling with his natural instincts as a Nundu, something that would fade in time.  
The reaction of the human brain to reject anything so animalistic was natural, Baine had gone through it too when he had first come into his inheritance, it would take some time for Harry to adjust and accept his other nature completely. However, accepting it was all part and parcel of becoming what they were; his human instincts would soon be naturally quelled by his primal nature as a Nundu. 

“I understand,” Baine said gently, not removing his hand, even leaning closer to Harry, inhaling his scent and being able to determine the lust that lingered beneath the teenager’s skin, the want and the desire. It was laced with fear and uncertainty, as well as several other emotions, but it was the need for him as a dominant male that caught Baine's attention so aptly. “Allow me to ask you a question,” he requested.

Harry nodded his head slightly. “Okay,” he said, his voice barely a whisper as he spoke, heart hammering in his chest as he struggled to come to terms with how much he wanted this stranger. It was surreal, like a dream; he had woken up somewhere he didn't belong and his life was totally different all over again, just like it had happened on his eleventh birthday.

“Would you give yourself to me willingly in this moment?” Baine asked, his tone soft, seductive even as he asked this question.

“Yes,” Harry said with a moment of hesitation, “but I don't know why.”

Baine smiled slightly, closing the last of the distance between them and pressing their lips together. He was never going to get enough of kissing Harry, his lips were a magical combination of soft silk and yet they were lightly chapped too.

His tongue came out and Harry parted his lips, allowing him entrance. Baine's hand went round to grip the back of Harry's head, deepening the kiss. The teenager removed his hand from the older man's grip, reaching forward to touch him, hands gliding over soft, cool skin, fingertips brushing over erect nipples.

Delicate touches were exchanged, quickly turning into frantic gestures, Baine taking Harry's hand within his own and guiding it to his cock that was aching to be touched. Their lips never parting as they came to know each other’s bodies, learning exactly how the other liked to be touched to draw out that moan of pleasure.

“You can touch me, Harry, I am yours if you will have me,” Baine said, his voice husky from arousal, both of them breathing heavily from their kiss. “If I claim you, I can protect you, you will be mine.”

“Claim me?” Harry questioned, his hands not fighting the direction they were being guided in, more than happy to explore lower down, his fingers taking a gentle grip of the older man's erection, stroking it almost teasingly as Baine let out a low groan of arousal.

“I want to take you, to sink myself into you and mark you as my own,” the older man growled possessively as Harry continued to stroke him slowly and deliberately, caught up on the words flowing seductively from the older man's lips. Baine watched in fascination as the teenager’s cheeks flushed scarlet at his words. It astounded Baine that Harry could blush so beautifully with embarrassment at his words while at the same time stroking his cock.

“I've never...” Harry began to say but Baine cut him off, kissing him fiercely. He didn't need for Harry to tell him that he had never had sex before, he could smell it. The fact that Harry was a virgin was one of the biggest turn-ons for Baine. He would be the first and he would ensure that he would be the only as well.

“I know,” Baine said, his voice a soft growl as Harry continued to stroke him, the motions teasing and slow, though he knew that Harry didn't mean for them to be. His inexperience was evident in his actions and it only made Baine want him more. “Let me claim you,” Baine demanded, though he looked at Harry imploringly, letting him know that he had the right to say no.

The older man wasn't sure that he would take no for an answer but he wasn't going to force himself on the teenager, he wanted Harry to want this. He could smell the lust and the desire and it was driving him to a point that made him want the boy more than he thought was natural.

Nundu were rare, human Nundu's even more so. To have found another creature like himself and for him to be a submissive too, it was luck, pure luck and Baine wasn't about to waste the opportunity and let the young man get away from him. He might have been the boy-who-lived but that didn't mean that Baine couldn't have him.

Harry was looking at him now, a lustful gleam in his emerald green eyes, a concentrated look upon his face, clearly not knowing what to do, but his body clearly wanting to say yes and to be claimed. His human brain was still rejecting his creature's instincts. The Nundu inside of him was screaming out to be claimed by the dominant male.

“Yes,” Harry finally whispered, his voice so quiet that it was almost lost in silence of the forest, but Blaine heard, it was the most beautiful sound in the world to him, that one single word and Harry had given himself over to him.

“You mean it?” Baine questioned, his hopes sky high but wanting to be sure that this was what Harry wanted. It was a situation Baine had resigned himself to never experiencing, he would not waste the opportunity given to him by hurting the teenager before him. Harry was far too precious to be hurt. 

Harry might not have known everything there was no know about what they were and yet he was already starting to trust his creature instincts and they knew that a dominant Nundu was the only way to protect himself against those that might try and hurt him. It was what he wanted, more than anything, he desire Baine, wanted him as a mate and he would have him.

“I mean it,” Harry confirmed and the moment the words had left his lips, Baine dragged him into a bruising kiss, pushing back and lowering Harry to the ground. The teenager parted his legs and allowed the older man to settle between his thighs, their erections grinding together as they kissed.

Bits of twig and stone dug into his back, dry leaves cracked beneath the weight of their bodies; it was fortunate that it hadn't rained in a few days because otherwise they would have been covered in mud too, though, regardless, they were still going to be filthy. Harry had never imagined that his first time might be in a forest with a near complete stranger but even as this thought crossed his mind he realised that he didn't care as long as Baine claimed him. As long as he belonged to Baine nothing else mattered.

Baine using one hand to prop himself up, ran his other hand down Harry's side, gripping at the teenager’s hip, raising one leg up and over his shoulder as he began to kiss his way down the teenager’s neck and chest, barely pausing to suckle upon each nipple. The human part of him wanted to make the first time nice for Harry, give him a treasured memory but he was too close, the need for him was too strong and Baine knew that he wasn't going to be able to do that, not here at least.

They didn't even have anything to ease the process along, hell they didn't even have wands to create a substitute. He was going to have to prepare Harry thoroughly if he wasn't to hurt him. Saliva was never an ideal lubricant, however, this morning it would have to do.

So involved in one another, neither of them heard the footsteps approaching or the jolly whistling of the approaching muggle walking his dog. However, they did hear the playful yip as the dog in question bounded after a tennis ball that had been thrown by it's owner, neither yet aware of the two naked men a few meters away from them, fornicating.

Baine cursed; he had known that they shouldn't have stayed here, knew that they were likely to be interrupted, they were lucky it had only been a muggle and no one else. Looking down at the young submissive he found it hard to breath; Harry's pupils had been lost to a sea of stunning emerald green, pupils turning to pinpricks, his chest had a sheen of sweat and he was breathing heavily, looking utterly ravished.

Without saying a word, Baine gathered the teenager into his arms, holding him close; Harry wrapped himself around the dominant Nundu without question, clinging to him tightly as Baine apparated them away from the forest to somewhere that they would be safe and uninterrupted.

\--------X

Baine apparated Harry to the only place that he knew would be safe for the two of them, the home of his friend and confidant Severus Snape, who owned a property at Spinner's End, a muggle area in Cokesworth. It was rare that Severus was even here and yet it had always been a safe haven for the both of them. It was a place where they didn’t have to hide who they were, they could talk frankly and never fear retribution. 

He was sure that he and Harry would be safe here, at least for a while. Severus had ensured that only when accompanied by himself or Baine could anyone else enter the house, wanting it to be a place of safety and security. Though Baine had no idea how Severus was going to react to having Harry Potter in his house.

He had decided, however, that he really didn't care what Severus thought, Harry was his and he wasn’t going to take him somewhere he didn’t think they’d be secure. Here at least they could be safe, at least for a while and uninterrupted, or they would be for long enough for Baine to lay his claim on the teenager. Once he had then he’d be linked to his mate and be able to track him more efficiently, to protect him from those that might want to hurt him and of those there were many. 

The two of them had appeared in the small, dark living room quite suddenly with a loud, sharp crack and it had taken a moment for Harry to get his bearings, not used to side along apparition. Though being gathered in the larger man's arms had certainly helped the process slightly.

“Where are we?” Harry asked, looking around in a daze, trying to take everything in and failing miserably. His head was in a spin, the overload of information and the intensity of what he was feeling was making it hard for him to focus on anything. All he could really make out was that he was in some form of sitting room, although whom it might have belonged to was a mystery to him. It was tiny room and had the feeling of a dark padded cell, the walls completely covered in shelves of books, most of them bound in either black or brown leather.

A threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table stood grouped together in the centre of the room, blending into the look of disrepair the room had going for it. The whole place had an air of neglect, the smell of ancient books and dust lingering in the room making the air almost stagnant. The two naked men were stood in the very centre of the room, one clinging to the other in this unfamiliar place while the second listened for any sign that they were not alone.

“Somewhere safe,” Baine answered the smaller man softly as he manouvered the two of them so that he could guide Harry over to where he knew a concealed doorway was hidden, opening the doorway to reveal a set of ascending stairs. Encouraging Harry to go ahead of him, the two of them climbed in a hurry, both knowing what was going to happen when they reached the top.

Upstairs there were two bedrooms; after Severus' mother had died, the potions master had converted her room into a guest bedroom and this was where Baine was headed. It was unofficially his bedroom, it was the one he used when he had business in London and didn't want to apparate all the way home. Severus had always welcomed him into his home without question, they had been friends for a very long time after all. Having grown up together and been friends through their time at school they knew one another’s deepest secrets and never judged one another. 

“Is this your house?” Harry asked as they reached the top landing that was of similar décor to the sitting room they had just vacated. He felt entirely curious that he didn't feel more concerned with being taken to this unknown location with a complete stranger but the feeling of safety had never left him since waking up in the forest this morning. Somehow Harry just knew that he wouldn't be harmed by Baine, he was safe with him.

“It belongs to a friend of mine,” Baine said as they stopped to catch their breath for a moment, stood in the landing, both of them as naked as the day they were born. It gave Harry a chance to look around and survey where they were. From where he stood on the landing there were three doors, only one of them was open and through it, Harry could see a large, elaborate bathroom with a tub big enough for two. It was something that would be left to explore later though as Baine opened the door to their left. It revealed a simple room with only a large bed occupying the space inside. It looked as if it might sleep four fully grown men; in comparison to what Harry was used to it was pure luxury.

“And your friend won't mind us being here?” Harry asked as he walked into the room, taking in the vast amount of dust that seemed to coat every surface. The house was clearly not frequently inhabited and it gave Harry a sense of ease, thinking that this time they might not be disturbed.

“Not once I explain the situation. It's only for a little while anyway, we won't be here long,” Baine explained as he shut the door over, wishing he had his wand to lock themselves inside. He had, however, left it at his own residence with his clothing before travelling back to find Harry. He hadn't been thinking long term when he had gone, only that he had been desperate to find the young Nundu, his instincts taking over.

He had been too exhausted to apparate the two of them far, not without splinching one or both of them, it was pure luck that Severus' old family home was relatively close. It was at least closer than his own home which was close to the borders of Scotland in the middle of a moor where very few people dared to venture.

“I'm not going back to my Aunt and Uncle's house, am I?” Harry asked, the realisation hitting him as he came to stand by the grimy window that had a criss crossed lead pattern across the glass. He could vaguely make out the street below where there were two people already leaving their homes, ready to go about their day despite how early it was.

“No, Harry, you're not,” Baine said gently as he came up behind the teenager, wrapping his arms around Harry's smaller waist. He hated how tiny the boy was, he should never have been this small and in truth Baine thought that his size had a whole lot to do with the way that the teenager had been treated growing up. “Would you want to go back there, if you could?” Baine asked curiously; it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have right now but it was one that they would have to have eventually.

“No,” Harry said truthfully, turning around in Baine's arms to face the older man, looking up into his dark, chocolate brown eyes that smouldered with intensity. His hands tentatively went forward to hold Baine's waist, overly aware of how naked the two of them still were.

“Close your eyes,” Baine instructed and with very little hesitation Harry did as he was told, taking a deep breath as he tried to calm his racing heart. “Listen to your instincts...” the older of the two whispered, his lips close to Harry's ear, “trust what they are telling you.”

With his hands trembling, Harry focused on what he thought his instincts were trying to tell him, the rational side of his brain was telling him that this man was a stranger, a deatheater but a far more dominant part of his brain was telling him that this man was his, to allow Baine to claim him fully and that once this happened nothing would stand in their way.

Harry's eyes snapped open, staring at Baine for a fraction of a second, trying to decide if he should listen to his instincts, before realising that he really didn't want to not be with Baine. It took him a fraction of a second before he stood on his tip toes and pressed his lips against that of the older man. Moving his hands up Baine's bare chest, up and into his dark hair as he was pulled against the older man's firm muscular body, their erections trapped between them.

Baine wasted no time, carrying Harry over to the bed and laying him down upon it, the teenager splaying his legs so that his lover could nestle himself between them. Their lips never parted as they kissed with intensity, grinding themselves against one another.

There was one bonus about having been disturbed in the wooded area before by the muggle walking his dog and that was that now they had access to a bathroom and Baine was hoping that something in there might be usable for lube. He didn't want to hurt the teenager after all, only claim him.

“Wait here,” Baine said, breaking the kiss. “Don't move,” he added as he stood up, his voice was deep and husky, full of arousal. His cock fully hard and jutting out in front of him as he headed for the door, Harry watching him go with confusion and worry on his face, not knowing what to do.

Baine went as quickly as he could, leaving the bedroom door only slightly ajar as he made his way next door to the bathroom. Severus spent most of his year at Hogwarts so Baine held out very little hope that the very straight potions master had actual lube in his home, however, at this moment Baine would have settled for lotion or in fact anything that would make fucking his new mate into the mattress easier.

Grabbing the first bottle that looked like it could do the job and not cause any adverse side effects, Baine hurried back to where Harry was waiting, having not moved an inch from when he had been left. It made Baine smile to see him lying there, legs parted, eyes dilated with lust, his hard cock resting upon his stomach and leaking pre-cum.

His eyes never leaving Harry's, Baine moved across the room, climbing gracefully back on to the bed, positioning himself between Harry's thighs once again, dropping the bottle of lotion on the quilt beside them. He hadn't realised just how beautiful the teenager was, his eyes a stunning shade of emerald green, dark brown hair that was almost black sticking up in several different directions, his tanned olive skin that had a slight blush to it as the older man drank him in, unable to believe how perfect his soon to be lover and mate was.

Baine moved his hand so that his fingers snaked into Harry's tufty dark hair, gripping it as he tipped Harry's head backwards and drew him into a passionate kiss, their hearts racing frantically together as their tongues collided. Moving his mouth from Harry's, Baine kissed along his jaw and down his neck, nipping and sucking at the delicate flesh, determined to mark the younger man beneath him.

The teenager gave out a wanton moan, gripping his lover’s hips possessively as he was marked with ferocious determination. His nails digging into the skin of the older man as he bucked his hips up so that their erections rubbed together, causing a delicious friction between them. Baine couldn't hold back any longer, the desperation that he could feel coming from Harry was too much, he needed to be inside of him.

Grabbing for the lotion, Baine made quick work of coating two fingers before reaching between their bodies to run them over Harry's entrance. At this new and intimate touch that he had never experienced before, Harry gasped and squirmed, not sure what was going to happen next, a little fearful of what Baine was doing.

Sensing the younger man's uncertainty, Baine lent down and drew Harry into a bruising kiss as he pushed a single digit passed the tight ring of muscle. Baine sucked the teenager's bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling at it delicately as a low rumbling groan of pleasure escaped from the younger man's throat.

Moving the finger around inside of the younger man, Baine continued to ravish him, distracting him from the intensity of what he was doing. A second finger joining the first and Harry gasped, throwing his head backwards, his back arching off the bed as Baine pushed inside of him.

Scissoring his fingers slightly, Baine prepared the younger man, stretching him so to accommodate the large girth of his throbbing cock. Harry groaned as the two digits moved inside of him relentlessly, coating him in lotion, ensuring that he would be able to accept Baine's erection. The older man relentlessly ravishing his lips, kissing him for all he was worth to distract him from the slight burn.

Harry writhed beneath his lover, lost to the sensations of it, hips bearing down upon the fingers inside of him desperate for more. “Please,” the teenager pleaded as Baine broke the kiss. It felt a little uncomfortable but at the same time he wanted it so much. Harry had experienced a lot of pain and discomfort in his lifetime but nothing that had made him want to experience more, nothing like this. 

Smiling at the pleading man beneath him, Baine inserted a third finger, loving how Harry reacted to it, his back arching off the bed in a defined curve, eyes closing and fists clenching around the quilt beneath them. Baine couldn't take his eyes of the other man, watching him with pleasure as the submissive gave off a wanton moan as he was stretched.

“Please what?” Baine teased, still moving his fingers relentlessly inside of the younger man, brushing against the little bundle of nerves inside of him and watching with intense glee as the teenager almost screamed in pleasure, never having been touched this way before and not having expected the sparks of pleasure that brushing against his prostate gave.

“More, please, Baine, more,” Harry pleaded rather desperately, needing to feel the dominant Nundu inside of him, wanting it more than anything else in that moment. Nothing else seemed to matter, his instincts had given themselves over to his Nundu and they were preening with satisfaction at having found a mate so soon after the first transformation.

At a second brush over that sensitive spot inside of him, Harry did scream, his orgasm hitting him rather suddenly, without any warning his cock erupted with pearly white come, covering his stomach in little white globs. Leaning down, Baine ran his tongue over the younger man's stomach, licking up the traces of his orgasm, tasting him. He was never going to get enough of knowing that he could do this to his mate.

Harry groaned as Baine drew back, removing his fingers from inside the teenager, sitting up on his knees and grabbing once again for the lotion and squirting a liberal amount over his cock, which was so hard that he didn't think that he was going to last long at all. As it was he gripped the base of his cock tightly, stemming the flow of blood while be ensured he was fully coated. It would not do to have himself come before he even had a chance to be inside of the submissive.

Taking a brief moment to calm himself, Baine breathed deeply, watching as his mate rode out his first orgasm, the smaller man’s body twitching with after tremours. Baine needed the time to regain himself, not wanting to come the moment that he pushed himself inside of the submissive. Harry was watching him, legs spread wide in invitation, waiting, his cheeks were a rosy pink, his pupils pinpricks, lost in a sea of emerald and his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. He looked utterly ravished and in Baine's eyes, he was perfection.

\--------X

Rumblings had been heard amongst the deatheaters that the protection around Potter had failed. Hoards of deatheaters had descended upon the muggle street in search of the sixteen year old boy. Severus had grimaced when he had realised that it was the eve of Harry’s birthday and at once gone in search of Dumbledore. 

Albus, however, was nowhere to be found, the man had completely vanished as far as anyone knew. Minerva knew that he had intended to move the Potter boy to the Weasley’s this evening but aside from that he didn’t know where he had gone. She had checked in with Molly and Arthur but neither the headmaster nor Potter had made it to the Burrow. 

At once Severus had alerted the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, told them what he had come to Hogwarts to tell Dumbledore, that Harry Potter was in danger, that the wards had fallen and the deatheaters were coming for their golden boy. In a panic and unsure what to do after that, Severus had returned to Malfoy Manor wanting to seek out any and all information that he could about what had happened. 

It was there that Severus had learnt what Bellatrix and Lucius had seen when they had gone in search of Potter. Dumbledore had been found dead at the muggle house, torn apart and then devoured by what they thought might be a Nundu. 

“You should have seen the size of the beast,” Lucius said, Bellatrix nodding eagerly, both of them had been sure that that was what they had seen, though both of them looked a little shaken by what had happened. 

“Mulciber was there, he will tell you,” Bellatrix said, wanting for Severus to challenge what they were saying, to call them liars. “It was a Nundu, we’re sure of it,” she added, her eyes meeting Snape’s, though the potion master kept his cool, not submitting to her powerful gaze. 

“And where is Baine?” Severus asked coolly; he thought it strange that Baine had been there, Baine was the only human Nundu that he knew and he hadn’t thought that there were any others in England, they were too rare a creature. It took a lot of dark magic to bring that out in a blood line. However, he knew all too well that it could be true if what Dumbledore assumed about Potter was true; it would also mean that it had been Harry who had killed Dumbledore, something Severus didn’t want to dwell on too much. 

“I am not the man’s keeper” Lucius said with a shrug, “I have not seen him since we returned from Surrey.” Lucius had thought it strange that Mulciber had needed to leave so quickly but he had been keen to tell his story to any who might want to listen, Bellatrix too and neither of them had thought much about it. 

Without waiting around to hear Bellatrix regale them with the story of Albus Dumbledore lying dead upon the ground while laughing heartily again, Severus had left, heading to the borders of Scotland where his childhood friend maintained a residence. He fully intended on questioning him to find out what had happened but Baine had not been at his home. 

Severus had known that something wasn’t right from the moment he had arrived; Baine’s clothes had been hastily shed and dumped unceremoniously in the entrance hall to his grand home and even his wand had been left behind. 

The potions master hadn’t known where else to look for his friend, the only other place that Baine tended to frequent aside from his own home, and Malfoy Manor on the rare occasion that he came for deatheater meetings, was Spinner’s End. Severus hadn’t even been there for the past couple of days, instead remaining at Hogwart’s where he was preparing to take over the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in September. 

With nowhere else to go he knew that he had to try his own home. If Baine wasn’t there then he would get some rest and keep searching later on in the day; it was the early hours of the morning and he had been apparating all over England trying to find out what had happened. Dumbledore was dead, Harry Potter was presumed missing by the Order and there was no way that he was going to tell them that he thought the golden boy of Gryffindor was one of the most feared creatures in the wizarding world. 

The search for Baine, whom Severus knew would hold more answers, could resume when he had slept; after all, the man would have to return home eventually, if for no other reason than to retrieve his wand. The potions master needed answers to the mystery of what had happened tonight, he wanted to know if there was another human Nundu and whether it was Potter. He needed to know if the boy had transformed and then killed Albus Dumbledore.

The moment that Severus got home he knew that Baine was there. Things around his home had been disturbed and the only other person who had access to his house was Baine, he had made sure of that. However, there was another clue that gave away the fact that he was here… the fact that he could hear him upstairs, clearly with someone else. 

Withdrawing his wand, Severus started up the stairs as a scream tore through the house, it was a scream that didn’t belong to Baine, of that Severus was sure. He wasn’t sure what was going on or what this had to do with Dumbledore or Potter but he was determined to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. 
> 
> As always you can find me on facebook, my username is Strawbie Girrl. I will keep everyone more up to date with that I'm writing and what story is going to be updated next from there.


	3. Harry's acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry comes to terms with his natural instincts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thank you for the amazing response I am getting for this story. I never thought that it would be half as popular as it has been and I want to say a huge thank you for that. For everyone who took the time to leave me a comment, this chapter is for you. Thank you and please enjoy.

“Oh, holy mother of Merlin,” Severus said in shock, absolutely horrified at the sight before him and almost falling over in his haste to get out of the room. He had foolishly walked into the guest bedroom in his home in Spinner’s end without bothering to knock first and seen the most unholy sight imaginable. He was sure that the image of his best friend since childhood fucking the love of his life’s son was going to be burnt into his brain for the foreseeable future. 

Of course Severus made a swift exit from the room, the two men in question not bothering to stop their activities. The potions master was more than content to leave them to it, closing the door behind him to give the two of them the privacy they needed to finish off what they were doing. Feeling a little awkward about waiting outside of the bedroom for them to come out, Severus retreated back down the stairs, heading for the kitchen to put the kettle on to boil so that he could make tea. He needed something to ease his nerves first though and made a beeline to the cupboard where he kept the fire whiskey so that he could pour himself a shot. 

It took twenty minutes for Baine and Harry to make their way downstairs, the younger of the two looking a little sheepish about the fact that they had been caught having sex. His embarrassment wasn’t helped by the fact that he was wrapped in a sheet from the bedroom and nothing else, clearly not having any clothing of his own. Baine was wearing a pair of trousers that were of course Snape’s but the two men were almost the same size around the waist, though Baine was a little taller than his friend. 

“I made tea,” Severus said a little dryly, motioning to the tea pot and china cups that were sat upon a small rickety table waiting for them. Severus had sat himself in the armchair, leaving the sofa vacant for the lovebirds. He was highly disapproving of what they had been doing; Baine was thirty six, twenty years senior to Harry; the teenager wasn’t even of age yet. 

“I made love,” Baine said with his usual sass as he took a seat on his friend’s sofa, caring very little that he was shirtless or that his mate was covered with only a sheet. Harry went to sit beside him, however, the older man pulled the sixteen year old on to his lap, not hesitating for a moment, wanting to share physical contact with the younger man. “But then you saw that,” Baine added with a smirk, the comment causing Harry’s cheeks to flare up in embarrassment. 

“You realise who this is,” Severus said, pointing a long, bony finger at Harry, looking at the teenager with distaste; he was not greatly fond of the boy, there was far too much of James in him for Severus’ tastes and not enough of his beloved Lily. Severus was too used to his friends banter for it to bother him too much, though he wasn’t too impressed with the situation he had walked in on, it just didn’t sit right with him at all. 

“I’m not blind, Severus,” Baine said with a small scowl, holding Harry tightly around the waist, not willing to let him go. The bond that they would now share as mates was still forming. They were meant to have as much physical contact in the next few hours as was possible, and while it was a shame that they had been interrupted, they would make the best of the situation. Baine had intended for them to sleep next to each other, Harry in his arms and they both needed the rest but this conversation could not wait apparently. 

“He is missing, though it is being said that he is most likely dead considering...” Severus went to say, cutting himself off before he could say anymore. He could only assume from the state of how things were and what he had seen and heard so far that Harry was indeed the Nundu that had killed Dumbledore and the three Dursley’s as well. Though he didn’t want to tell the teenager that just yet. 

Baine had confided in him what it had felt like when he went through his first transformation a few years after it had happened, he might not have been able to remember much but he remembered the pain and the fear that he had felt. Just from that Severus knew that Harry probably wouldn’t remember what he had done and even he wasn’t cruel enough to tell the poor boy, not after he had seen what it had done to Baine when he had been told. Potter had enough of a weight on his shoulders without adding that guilt as well. 

“He cannot go back,” Baine said rather bluntly, his tone of voice leaving no room for negotiation on that point. Harry remained silent, not wanting to draw attention to himself, not when he was sat in someone else’s home wearing nothing but a sheet; Snape’s house of all places, somewhere he had had never expected to end up. Harry had been confused and shaken when Severus had walked in on them, though he had come to terms with it a little more when Baine had explained that it was his house before they had come downstairs. 

“Because he is like you,” Severus said to clarify as he leaned forward and finally poured out a cup of tea for himself, making sure to pour one for the other two as well. Baine nodded in response to his friend’s question and Harry, who felt like dying of humiliation at this point, couldn’t help but bury his face in the crook of his lover’s neck so that he didn’t have to look at his potions professor. 

“Yes,” Baine said simply, “and he is now mine.” He wanted to make this very clear from the off set, no one was going to be taking Harry away from him, not now that they had bonded together. 

“Merlin,” Severus groaned, “you cannot just claim the boy, he is Harry bloody Potter, the entire Order of the Phoenix is out looking for him right now. Damn it, Baine, he still has the trace on him, if he casts one spell…” 

“I don’t have my wand,” Harry said at once, though he didn’t speak with confidence; he barely raised his head up at all but he did turn so that he was looking at Snape, though he was still embarrassed by the situation he was in and wishing that he had anything else to wear other than this bed sheet. 

“Stupid boy,” Severus hissed, glaring at Harry as if he were of troll level intelligence, “if magic is used around you it can be traced.”

“Do not speak to him like that!” Baine snapped; Severus might have been his friend, one that he valued very highly but no one had the right to speak to Harry in such a way. Baine was not going to tolerate anyone treating Harry any less than what he deserved and he would kill anyone that tried to harm the teenager, there was no doubt in his mind on that. 

“He would have been traced here,” Severus said, getting up from his chair and starting to pace the room, frantic with worry. The last thing he needed was for the Order of the Phoenix to think that he had something to do with Potter’s disappearance. “If it wasn’t for the wards the Ministry would probably already be trying to break down the door!” Severus raged. 

“The Ministry would not yet be alerted,” Baine said calmly. “And the Dark Lord has enough spies there to qwell any sort of investigation if it is needed.” It was true that he hadn’t exactly thought this through but his plan had always been to rest for a while before moving both himself and Harry to his own residence. Aside from that he had no plan of what to do and he already knew that there were going to be a lot of complications. 

Harry had stiffened at the mention of the Dark Lord, however, he hadn’t moved or said anything at the mention of Voldemort. That too was going to have to be a discussion that the two of them shared. They were from two opposite sides of a war that was still raging and violently so. For the moment, however, Baine was painfully aware that the young man in his arms was listening to every word that was being said. 

“You foolish man, do you really think the Dark Lord will aid you? You are claiming the Potter boy as a lover! The Dark Lord will expect you to bring him to him!” Severus said angrily, turning on the two men on his sofa, glaring at them accusingly, unable to believe that Baine would be so stupid to think that this was a good idea. 

Of course, Severus knew how rare the human Nundu were. He could see why Baine had ignored the fact that it was Harry Potter and taken the teenager as a mate regardless; after all, this was likely Baine’s only chance at a mate that was of his own kind, his only chance at children that would be like the both of them. To Severus, however, it still seemed a foolish risk to take, reckless and stupid even. 

“No one will touch him!” Baine shouted. He still hadn’t moved, remaining sat ont he sofa with Harry in his arms. It was very simple to him, Harry was his mate, the one that would have his cubs eventually, he didn’t care what it took, he would kill Voldemort himself if he had to if it meant Harry was safe.

“You think you can stand against the Dark Lord!” Severus snapped, “No one can, not now Dumbledore is dead!” He hadn’t meant to say it but now was as good a time as any to make Harry aware that the elderly headmaster was no more. 

“Dumbledore is dead?” Harry said, suddenly sitting bolt upright in Baine’s lap, looking between the other two men in shock. “What happened? I don’t understand, why he is he dead… did Voldemort kill him?” A million questions were rushing through his mind about how this had happened, wondering if the silence over the summer had been because no one had wanted to tell him that the headmaster was dead. 

Baine glared at Severus, both of them knew that no one had killed Dumbledore other than Harry himself but they couldn’t tell him, they just couldn’t. He honestly didn’t know what to say, Baine didn’t want to lie to Harry but he couldn’t exactly tell him the truth either; instead he kept a firm grip around the teenager’s waist, keeping Harry cuddled firmly against him. 

“He was attacked,” Severus said impatiently, seeing that Baine was not about to tell Harry the truth on this matter and mainly agreeing with his friend that they shouldn’t, at least not yet. It wasn’t exactly his place to do so, he had not been there, he had not seen it, so instead a half truth was going to have to do. “There was nothing anyone could have done to stop it, he was alone at the time.” 

As Severus spoke he moved back around the sofa, heading for his armchair, needing another stiff drink, but settling for the cup of tea that he had poured. Neither Baine nor Harry had touched their own drinks though Severus didn’t take offense. He had only brewed it so that he had had something to do with his hands; what they all needed right now was some sleep, not tea. 

“I have to go,” Harry said wiggling in his mate’s lap, struggling to free himself from the hold Baine had upon him, “I have to go back to the Order, if they’re looking for me… with Dumbledore dead I have to… Baine let me go!” However, the older man would not relent his grip upon his mate, refusing to let him go. 

Harry was struggling with his instincts; he knew that he should go back, after all it was just responsibility to destroy Voldemort, the prophecy had told him that much. He had paid such a high price to listen to the damn thing that he couldn’t disregard it. Neither could live while the other survived, it had been foretold. However, there was another part of his mind that didn’t want to go, didn’t want to leave the comfort of his mate’s arms and there was one voice that was definitely stronger than the other. His Nundu instincts were slowly but surely overpowering the natural instincts that he had had as a human. 

“You are presumed dead,” Baine said, trying to sooth his lover, nuzzling gently into his neck, placing soft kisses there, “it is only the three of us that know you are alive,” he went on to say, a plan forming in his mind. “Consider a life, the two of us together where you do not have to be the hero anymore.” 

It was certainly an intriguing idea, the thought that he didn’t have to play the role of the-boy-who-lived any more. He wondered if it could be possible. A small part of his brain thought that it was entirely crazy that he was considering a life with a man he had only met a few hours before, a man whom was practically a stranger to him and yet Harry had let him take his virginity without thinking twice about it. It felt as if there were two sides of him and they were at war with one another. 

“You want to just forget everything else that is going on?” Harry asked, actually surprising himself by considering this possibility of listening to the side of him that wanted normality, that craved it. “The war, Voldemort, leave it all behind?” he asked, running through the idea in his mind, thinking what his life would be like if he didn’t have to think about any of it, if he could truly be free. “Where would we go?” 

Sitting in this overcrowded sitting room that smelt old and musty, walls covered with shelves of leather bound books, Harry wondered what it would be like not to be the hero, not to have the expectations of the wizarding world on his shoulders, to just live a life with Baine. Whatever had happened to him during the course of the night, for better or for worse it had changed him. Everyone thought that he was dead, it was almost like a gift that had been given to him, a get out clause and it was a seriously tempting offer. 

Baine did not miss the fact that Harry had presumed that the two of them would go together; in fact, neither had Snape, however, the potions master was frowning, not liking the suggestion that the two of them run off and hide from the world as if nothing was wrong and there wasn’t a war going on. Harry had killed a powerful man whether he remembered it or not, one of the only men that Voldemort had been afraid of and now Potter alone was the only hope the wizarding world had of destroying the Dark Lord. Severus couldn’t believe that Harry was considering allowing everyone to carry on believing that he was dead so that he could live a life in peace, away from it all.

“I own a large house on the borders of Scotland,” Baine said rather matter of factly, pleased to see that this was an idea that Harry was considering very carefully. The idea of the two of them hiding away together sounded like pure heaven to him, with no one to bother them and no war to fight. 

He had lived in fear of his true nature being discovered for a long time, having joined Voldemort to blend in, thinking that it was the only place that someone like him belonged. It had been his fascination with the dark arts that had made him become what he was. When Severus had joined the deatheaters too it had been an easy decision to make but now, faced the possibility of a life of solitude with his mate and potentially cubs as well, it was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. 

“Could we really do it?” Harry asked, not wanting to get his hopes up if there wasn’t a way. He knew that it was selfish, to run away from the fight that he had been destined for since Voldemort had marked him as his equal when he was a baby but he had had enough. Too many people that he cared about had died; Cedric, Sirius and now Dumbledore. They were gone and he was left here to pick up the pieces, he had no clue what he was doing and honestly he was just tired of it all. 

Being offered a way out, a chance to live a normal life, a life away from his Aunt and Uncle’s constant stream of abuse, a life away from war and fear and expectation. He was already presumed dead, he just had to stay that way and if Baine could offer him that then surely he was a fool not to take it, not to at least try. Of course, he would miss Ron and Hermione, his other friends but they would understand, he was sure they would, after all they were his friends, they wouldn’t deny him happiness.

Harry honestly didn’t know what to do; he wanted this, he wanted the chance at a normal life but he wasn’t sure that he would be able to turn his back on his friends, his family and leave them to their fate. He knew that it was selfish but didn’t he deserve this, didn’t he deserve to be happy? He was sixteen years old, he didn’t want to fight and he certainly didn’t want to die. 

Baine had been asking him to trust his instincts, so far every time he had taken a deep breath and done just that he had felt so at ease, he hadn’t had to fight anything, he had just known what he had needed to do. He wasn’t running off half cocked and getting people killed, he was listening to what his gut was telling him and it seemed to be leading him the right way, after all it seemed to have lead him to Baine. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Severus said with a scowl, “of course it cannot be done!” He was not keen on this plan at all, he didn’t care what Baine’s personal feelings were on the matter, Harry belonged at school and furthermore he had responsibilities to the wizarding world. Soldiers couldn’t just quit and walk away in the middle of a war, it just didn’t work like that. 

“It can,” Baine said defiantly; he cared for Severus a great deal, however, this was a possibility that they needed to consider. Baine had been looking for a way out from the servitude of being enslaved to the Dark Lord, and so it wasn’t just Harry that needed to escape from the world, together they could make it work. 

“Don’t be stupid,” Severus snapped, fed up with the talk of disappearing. It would be nigh on impossible for both Baine and Harry to just cease to exist, especially not with the trace still on Harry for the next year. It was never going to work no matter how much the two of them wanted it to. 

“I want to,” Harry said at once, not wanting to think too closely on the fact that it had been Snape’s stubborn refusal that it couldn’t be done that had made up his mind that he wanted to take the chance and try. Harry and Severus were never going to see eye to eye on anything and the teenager would always look to prove his professor wrong whenever he could. He knew that it wasn’t the most mature decision making process but all he had to do was acknowledge how safe and secure he felt with Baine, how much he wanted to be free of the weight of war and he had his answer regardless of what Severus thought on the matter. 

“Potter, don’t be ridiculous, Dumbledore wouldn’t…” Severus began to say, losing his patience a little bit with the stubbornness of the teenager. He had sworn to protect the boy because he was part of Lily, the only part of her that he had left but that didn’t mean he had to like the boy. 

At the man’s words though, Harry saw red, hating that Snape would use the headmaster to try and manipulate him. “Dumbledore left me with my Aunt and Uncle for months at a time, knowing what they did to me, don’t tell me what Dumbledore would or wouldn’t want me to do,” Harry said angrily, knowing that if Baine hadn’t have been holding on to him then he would have been up on his feet and confronting the potions master, regardless of the fact he was still wearing just a bed sheet. 

Harry really didn’t want to talk about anything that he had suffered through at the hands of his Aunt, Uncle and cousin, he didn’t even want to think about it but he did want to make it perfectly clear that no mention of Dumbledore was going to make him bend to anyones will. Severus needed to get it through his thick skull that he wasn’t just Harry Potter any more, he was something else entirely and it had given him the strength to make different choices, choices that he had never had before. 

“What did they do?” Baine suddenly demanded to know, reaching up and tipping Harry’s chin so that the teenager would look at him, wanting to know what had been done to his mate. Harry, however, shook his head, refusing to say another word on the matter, they hadn’t even known each other for a day, it wasn’t something that he could share with his lover yet. It was certainly not a story for them to share this morning when they had had no sleep and Severus Snape was sat glaring at the two of them rather hatefully. 

Baine could see the pained expression in his mate’s eyes and tightened his hold around the teenager, drawing him closer and cuddling the younger man into his bare chest, wanting to protect him from the world. This was the solution, he would retire from the world and he would take Harry with him so that they could be together and then no one would not bother them. It seemed very fairy tale but Baine thought that they both deserved it, they had both earned a quiet life away from it all. 

“It won’t work,” Severus warned, realising that he wasn’t going to be able to alter their decision on this matter, no matter how hard he tried. He had no idea what had been going on with Harry while he wasn’t at Hogwarts but just from the teenager’s reaction he knew that it must have been bad. He wouldn’t pry, at least not yet but he found himself wanting to know, he had known that Petunia was a bitter woman but he had no idea that she had taken that out on her nephew. 

“You don’t know that,” Harry said defiantly; he needed to believe that Severus was wrong. He felt so different, something inside his heart and his head was changing, dramatically so. It wasn’t who he used to be but Harry found that that wasn’t a bad thing, he was becoming more selfish in what he wanted and the way he saw it he deserved to be a little selfish once in a while. 

Severus turned on Harry, piercing him with a glare of utter hatred. “You are a stupid little boy, thinking that running away with a man you’ve just met will solve all of your problems!” he snapped; he knew that Baine was not a bad person, at least not in comparison to Voldemort but Harry didn’t know that. Severus didn’t understand why a sixteen year old boy would trust so blindly in a man that he had known only a few hours. 

“You do not understand our instincts,” Baine snarled before Harry could say anything. The Nundu were like no other, dangerous and evil creatures, you had to earn the inheritance, it wasn’t simply given, dark magic had to have touched your soul. Once you became the creature there was no turning back, it changed you as a person, altered your perception of the world. 

Harry was still making that change, it would take a few more hours before the Nundu fully took him over, it would have taken days if not weeks if they had not bonded as quickly as they had; however, now that they had found each other and joined themselves together, Harry’s acceptance of his inheritance would be sped up dramatically. Baine, however, could see that Harry was almost there, the fact that he was willing to walk away from his life so easily showed him this. 

“I wouldn’t want to,” Severus snapped back. He had always accepted his friend for what he was, never judging him for something that he couldn’t help. Baine had not sought out Nundu inheritance, it had come as a price for his obsession with the dark arts that he had had as a young teenager, thinking it impressive to know it all and practice it as much as he did. Baine had never expected to become a monster because of it. 

“Enough of this,” Baine said, getting more and more annoyed with each passing moment; he was tired and irritable and Harry was fighting to stay awake in his arms, it was time they got some rest before tempers frayed further and things were said that they couldn’t take back. “We will sleep now and leave as soon as we have rested,” he said decisively. 

Severus didn’t seem to be best pleased with this plan but he wasn’t about to turn his friend and Potter out on to the streets when they were all exhausted. He could agree with Baine on at least one thing and that was that they all needed rest. It would be no good arguing over this now and perhaps he would be able to change their minds when they were a little more rested. 

“Do not think that this conversation is over,” Severus stated firmly as Baine got to his feet, taking Harry with him, cradled in his arms. Harry’s arms automatically went around his lover’s neck, head resting on his chest. The teenager was more than ready for sleep and he was grateful that the debate about what they did next was at least on hold for a few hours. 

“Yes it is,” Baine said simply, heading for the stairs, meaning to get Harry and himself into bed so that they could sleep and recover from the nights activities. It had been a long night for all of them, they needed to regroup and then make the decisions that needed to be made. 

\---------------x

News of the disappearance of Harry Potter and the death of Albus Dumbledore spread through the wizarding world faster than the downfall of Voldemort had fifteen years ago. Even the Daily Prophet had managed to change the front page of their paper to announce it at the last minute. Thousands upon thousands of owls delivered the news to wizarding families all over the United Kingdom, sending many into states of panic. 

Molly and Arthur Weasley had been awake since the crack of dawn and Minerva had sent them word about what had happened. Their house was eerily silent, which was a strange occurrence in itself, they were not used to the quiet. Their children who still resided in the family home, and of course Hermione, who had joined them two days previously, were all still asleep upstairs, blissfully unaware of the horrors that had occurred. The two eldest Weasleys didn’t need the owl that delivered their copy of the Daily prophet to tell them the dreadful news, the Order of the Phoenix had been alerted long before the rest of the wizarding world had. 

“What do we tell Ron and Hermione?” Molly asked her husband; she was lost in what to think and what to feel, knowing that her youngest son was going to take this the hardest. Harry had been like a son to her and now he was missing, presumed dead, she knew that it wasn’t her fault but she couldn’t help but feel partly responsible, she should have been there for him. He had been sixteen years old and dragged into a war that in her mind he had no business fighting in, she should have said something, should have protected him. She would never have allowed it to go so far if Harry had been her child biologically. 

“The truth,” Arthur said his tone filled with deep regret. There would be no use lying to any of them, one way or another they would find out the truth, and he thought that it was probably better coming from him and Molly than any other sources. “We can’t keep the truth from them, not this time, not about this.” 

“What’s going on?” Ginny asked as she entered the kitchen, still half asleep and wearing pyjamas only to see her parents sat at the kitchen table, both of them looking tired and completely worn down. She knew instantly that something was very wrong and it unnerved her that she didn’t know what it was. The last time she had seen her parents looking so defeated was when her grandfather, Septimus, had died. 

“Ginny dear,” Molly said, she hadn’t realised how late in the morning it had become while they had been waiting for any form of news, “wake your brothers, I’ll put the kettle on,” she said, thinking that it would be better to tell them when they were all together. She didn’t want to have the conversation more than once, it would be hard enough telling them that one time. “Is Hermione awake?” 

“I am,” Hermione said as she came into the kitchen just behind Ginny looking a little confused by what was going on, she too was still in her pajamas and could easily sense the atmosphere in the kitchen. “What’s going on?” she asked upon seeing the concerned looks on the faces of the eldest two Weasleys.

“Let’s get everyone downstairs first,” Arthur said as Molly got to her feet and started to busy herself with making tea, trying desperately not to cry. She could have easily used magic to start the process, but she needed to do something with her hands to keep them busy and her mind occupied before she completely broke down. 

It took half an hour for the Weasley family to be gathered at the table in the kitchen, each of them with a mug of steaming tea in front of them, all of them very concerned about why they had been gathered together so formally. Molly had been insistent on the tea before anyone said anything too because she knew they would need it for the shock once they had been told. No one was saying anything, not even Fred and George, who were usually unstoppable when it came to noise. 

“Mum…” Ron began to say but Arthur gave his youngest son a stern look that shut him down at once. It wasn’t often that Arthur Weasley had to take a firm hand to his children, though the twins had justified it enough times while growing up. When he was this serious they all knew that it was a serious matter. 

“There was an incident last night,” Arthur said when Molly couldn’t find the words to begin, looking to her husband pleadingly to help explain this to their children. “An attack,” Arthur clarified, “it seems that Harry was the target.” 

“Is he okay?” Ginny asked at once, worrying over her crush. She had liked Harry for a while now, the whole business with Cho the year before had made her rather jealous and she had very much been looking forward to today as he was meant to be coming to stay with them for the rest of the summer. 

“He is missing, presumed dead,” Molly said with regret, tears in her eyes as she whispered these words. Silence descended as she spoke these words, no one knowing what to say so Arthur took the opportunity to tell them the rest of it. 

“Somehow Dumbledore was caught up in the attack, it looks like it was a case of wrong place and wrong time,” he said to them. “He didn’t make it out alive.” No one said anything, the silence becoming deafening. 

Molly was glad that only four of her children were here, she wasn’t sure if she would have broken the news to all seven of them. Poor Hermione was looking a little shell shocked at what they had just been told. Bill was back in England, however, he had gone off with one of the search parties to see if they could track down Harry or at least find out what had happened to him since there was no body to speak of. 

“He can’t be dead,” Ron said, being the first one to speak. “Voldemort is the only one who can kill him, I heard it myself, we all did,” he insisted, motioning between Hermione and his other siblings, who all nodded in agreement. “He isn’t dead!” The prophecy had been very specific on this, they had all been sure that this was what it had meant. Harry being dead just didn’t make sense. 

“You said presumed,” Hermione said, picking up on the words they used, “if he is only presumed then he could still be alive.” She was very quick to point this out because, like Ron she didn’t want to believe that he was dead. She knew that it was unlikely given the prophecy and also, if it were true then they were all doomed because Voldemort had won. 

“There wasn’t a body,” Arthur said, confirming what the children were saying, though he did so begrudgingly because he didn’t want to get their hopes up; he didn’t think it would be likely that Harry had survived, not after the way the cupboard under the stairs had been found. “However, we fear that he could have just been eaten completely,” he told them in a regretful, serious tone, needing them to understand that this was what had likely happened, “there are magical creatures that can do that.” 

“Eaten?” Ginny asked, the word feeling wrong as it came out of her mouth, she was feeling a little sick with thinking of what might have happened to Harry. He was the love of her life, he wasn’t ready to know that yet but she did, and she just couldn’t comprehend what her father was telling them all. 

“You said he had been attacked,” George said with confusion. 

“We assumed deatheaters,” Fred said, finishing off his twin’s thoughts. 

Molly couldn’t help but grimace; she hadn’t wanted to go into so much detail with her youngest children about what had happened but she could see no way around it now, not when they were asking so many questions, which was of course their right since their friend had died. However, she couldn’t be the one to put it into words, giving her husband another pleading look he nodded at her, understanding how hard it was for her. 

“The bodies of Harry’s Aunt, Uncle and Cousin were badly mauled, their throats having been torn out by some kind of large animal. Dumbledore had been partially eaten by whatever killed them,” Arthur explained rather bluntly. Ginny only just turned her head in time before she vomited on the floor, Molly rushing to help her daughter as tears streamed down the young girls face. 

“Arthur!” Molly exclaimed in annoyance. She had known that they would have to be honest about the circumstances surround the death of Albus and the disappearance of Harry but she had never expected for her husband to be so brutal with his words. 

“I’m sorry, Molly, but they should understand that there is very little chance that Harry is alive,” Arthur said somewhat apologetically. He wouldn’t have any of them living on false hope, there was no logic to Harry being alive. Unless the teenager had managed somehow to escape it was doubtful he had survived. He was sure that if Harry had managed to survive the attack then he would have sought help but he had not. 

Molly sighed as Ginny clung to her, sobbing into her shoulder. Ron and Hermione seemed to be in shock, both of them sitting at the table, side by side, in silence, staring into nothing as they attempted to process what had been told. The twins were clearly trying not to cry, Harry had done a lot for them and they were struggling to understand how and why. 

\-------------x

Waking up in the arms of his lover, Harry had never felt happier or more content. There were no words he could find to describe just how at peace he felt. His head had been spinning with new information when he had been carried to bed shortly after dawn, his mind overwhelmed with everything that had happened, two parts of himself warring inside his mind, not knowing what to do or how to react to everything he had been told. Now, however, everything seemed so much clearer, he knew that this was exactly where he was supposed to be. 

“Go back to sleep,” Baine grunted as he felt Harry wiggle and stretch in his arms. They had only been asleep for a handful of hours, Baine was guessing that it was only just after lunchtime and he really wanted to go back to sleep. Harry, however, had other plans it seemed as he continued to wiggle, turning so that he could face the older man, brushing against his erection as he did so making Baine groan. 

“Feels to me like you’re up,” Harry said cheekily, snuggling himself up to Baine so that their naked bodies were pressed together. He was relishing the feeling of his lover’s large and muscular arms around him, it felt wonderful to be there, it felt as if this was his safe place, somewhere he could be himself and not have to worry about anything. When had had been eleven, leaving Hogwarts to return to his Aunt and Uncle’s home had had realised that Hogwarts was his home, however, now that he was sixteen he was starting to realise that it was just stone walls; home was with the people you cared about and now, to Harry, that was Baine and he couldn’t even explain how that feeling had developed so quickly. 

“I’ll be inside you in a minute if you don’t stop,” Baine grumbled sleepily as he shuffled himself slightly to accept Harry in this new position, not opening his eyes. He could, however, feel Harry’s own erection rubbing against his own and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer if the teenager kept going the way he was. 

“I barely know you and yet that is all I want,” Harry answered in a soft whisper, placing gentle kisses across the older man’s chest that was dusted with fine dark hair. He didn’t know why he wanted this so badly but he wanted it desperately and it wasn’t just that that he wanted either. His instincts were telling him that the more sex they had the more likely it would be that he was pregnant and that was just what Harry’s instincts were screaming at him for. 

At this, Baine’s eyes snapped open, finding Harry and not looking away, “You are not fighting your instincts,” he said curiously, stopping the teenager’s assault on his chest, tipping Harry’s chin up so that he could stare into the deep emerald pools. The young man in his arms was not ceasing to amaze him and it was something that Baine was rather enjoying about his little mate. 

“I’m trying not to fight them anymore,” Harry admitted, his voice gentle as he gazed up into the deep brown eyes of his lover. Since waking up this afternoon he felt different, like he was leaving the person he had been before the transformation behind. There was another part of him now and it was becoming a lot more dominant than his personality before the inheritance. It was turning him into someone different, making him better, making him more than what he had been. It had given him a new found confidence and understanding, this inheritance was making everything so much clearer to him. There was one thing astoundingly clear to him though and that was that he wasn’t scared anymore. The constant fear that had followed him around since Voldemort had returned at the end of his fourth year of school, was gone. 

“There are not many of us, I have known only one other in my lifetime, but as far as I am aware it is unknown to find acceptance so quickly,” Baine said, feeling so proud of his little mate for coming to terms with what was happening so quickly, though it did concern him a little too. From what he had read he knew that the greater the evil that had brought the inheritance on, the stronger the Nundu would become. 

What concerned Baine was what had made the famous Harry Potter, the Wizarding World’s golden boy, turn into one of the darkest creatures that their world knew. Of course he had been touched by the killing curse when he was a baby but as far as anyone knew, since that moment in his life, Harry Potter had been surrounded by goodness and light. Nothing should have come close to being enough to turn him into a Nundu and yet it appeared that so much dark magic had come into contact with the-boy-who-lived that he was becoming a very strong Nundu with forceful instincts that had taken over in a matter of hours. Of course the acceptance would have been helped along by their bonding so quickly after Harry’s first transformation but still, it was a remarkably quick acceptance even when this was taken into consideration. 

“I’ve had you,” Harry said with a small shrug of his shoulders. He wasn’t thinking too carefully about how quickly he had come to accept the new animal instincts inside of him, he was far more concerned with what they were trying to tell him now. He wanted to be claimed by his mate again; last night hadn’t been enough, he wanted more. He wanted for them to be together intimately, without interruption. Severus walking in on them the time before had been a mood killer for both of them. 

“We will think on it later,” Baine said as Harry resumed kissing at his neck and chest, hands wandering over the older man’s naked body exploring this new territory, wanting to familiarise himself with it in every way possible. He had meant it when he said he would think about it later, he wanted to know what had caused such a young and seemingly innocent man to turn the way he had but now was not the time for that, not when Harry’s attentions were clearly on other things. 

Harry hummed his appreciation to this idea, working his way up to Baine’s lips where he claimed a sweet kiss from his lover, something the older man quickly took charge of, knowing just what the submissive wanted and needed. He didn’t hesitate to deepen the kiss, rolling the two of them back so that Baine was nestled between the teenager’s legs, which quickly wrapped around his waist. Harry groaning into the kiss in appreciation at the weight of his lover bearing down upon him as he was ravished. 

They were both fully naked, grinding into one another, their kisses were desperate as hands roamed over each others bodies. “Do you want this, Harry?” Baine asked with a low growl, wanting to make sure that he wasn’t going to hurt the teenager if they carried on along this road. It had been Harry’s first time the night before and Baine was worried that he would still be a little sore from their activities; he wasn’t one to be gentle with his sexual partners, though he had tried for Harry, knowing how innocent the teenager was. 

“I want you,” Harry said with a groan of pleasure as Baine reached between them and took hold of younger man’s erection, gripping it tightly and pumping slowly and teasingly. It was the answer that the dominant man had wanted and quickly broke away from his younger lover to grab the bottle of lotion that they had used as lube the night before. 

Baine was desperately hard already and the agreement from Harry was enough to make him crave the feeling of being inside of his lover once more. “On your stomach,” the older man instructed as he sat back on his legs, covering his throbbing cock in the sweet scented gloopy substance that he had found in Severus’ bathroom the evening before. Harry did as he was told, not really wanting to take his eyes off the erotic sight of his lover smothering his erection in lotion in preparation of what was to come, however, he followed his instincts, listening to his dominant mate and rolled on to his belly. 

It took the older man a moment to catch his breath at the sight of the beautifully round and firm globes that his lover displayed to him so willingly, wanting to be taken. Baine honestly couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have found a submissive of his kind, how fortunate it was that he actually found the young man attractive in his human form too and what was even more astounding was how quickly the teenager had accepted it all. Baine knew that there had to be reasons why but he didn’t care, Harry was his and that was all that mattered to the creature inside of him. Now, all that was missing was some cubs of their own and there was only one way that they were going to get them. 

Hitching up Harry’s leg to expose his entrance, Baine moved forward, using the fingers that were still covered in lotion, to coat the tight ring of muscle, reveling in the small shiver of pleasure that this sent down Harry’s spine. Pushing a single digit inside of the smaller man, Baine started to prepare his mate, loving how tight he was, despite their love making session the previous night.

Leaning down, Baine began to nuzzle at the nape of Harry’s neck, kissing and nibbling as he added a second finger to his lover’s entrance, pushing it inside. The teenager fisted the bedding beneath him, gasping out with the pressure and the slight burn of pain that came with this intrusion. It was possibly a little soon to be going again but he didn’t care, he wanted to feel his mate inside of him, the creature that he had become wanting to do anything to please his mate. 

“Merlin,” Harry gasped as Baine’s teeth grazed over his skin, biting down gently and suckling to draw the blood up to the surface and leave a mark to show that the teenager had been claimed. The submissive couldn’t help himself as he rutted against the bed, needing some friction against his throbbing cock, desperate for some form of release. The two fingers inside of him, stretching the tight ring of muscle and brushing against the sensitive bundle of nerves. “More, please more,” Harry begged desperately needing to feel more of his mate. 

Responding to his lover’s pleas, Baine inserted a third finger, the pressure of it causing Harry to cry out with pleasure, the burn of pain that came with the addition of each new digit was one he found he actually rather enjoyed. Though it did mean that shortly he wasn’t going to be able to contain the noises he was making. So far he had been making a conscious effort to stay as silent as possible, knowing that he and Baine didn’t have the house to themselves. 

Unable to withstand the temptation simply to take his submissive, Baine decided that enough was enough, he wanted to claim the teenager again, his animal instincts were taking charge and he couldn’t stop them, not that he would have wanted to if he could. Harry’s begging didn’t help to curb these urges either, his constant pleadings only spurring him on to move their lovemaking more quickly. Removing his fingers, Baine positioned himself so that his erection was lined up to enter the submissive, glad that he had had the forethought to prepare himself before preparing Harry. 

“Baine, please,” Harry gasped out, turning his head to see what his mate was doing. He was just in time to watch the blissful expression on the older man’s face as he started to push inside of the submissive. Baine moved slowly at first, edging his way in, not wanting to go too fast for the teenager; however, once he was fully inside of his mate, Baine struggled to contain his urges. 

“Fuck,” Baine growled rather loudly as he gave into his urges, pulling out before thrusting forward rather forcefully, pushing Harry forward on the bed, causing the younger man to cry out as his prostate was hit suddenly and forcefully. 

Harry tried to use his hands to steady himself, preparing for the next thrust, however, Baine leaned over him, holding his wrists to the bed, rolling his hips to tease his mate until the submissive was screaming out for more, which Baine was more than willing to give him. Pulling almost all of the way out before thrusting all the way back in, relishing in the scream of pleasure that escaped from Harry’s lips. 

Feeling how close he was to reaching his climax, Baine released his hold of Harry’s wrists, going instead to the submissive’s hips, lifting him off the bed a little, forcing Harry on to his knees. At this sudden, rather rough movement, the teenager whimpered a little, his thighs trembling with the effort to keep himself up as Baine delivered another brutal thrust. 

Wanting for Harry to find his release at the same time, Baine reached round and took the teenager’s erection in hand, gripping it tightly as he continued thrusting into the younger man, synchronizing his movements until he felt Harry tighten around his cock, screaming out his orgasm. Baine followed quickly after, emptying his load inside of the submissive, holding himself inside of the teenager as he rode out his climax, Harry having gone limp in his arms. 

It took Baine a moment to realise that Harry had actually been fucked to the point that he had fallen unconscious, something that puffed up the dominant’s ego massively. Smiling to himself, Baine pulled out of his lover and shuffled them so that Harry was wrapped up in his arms and closed his own eyes, thinking that a few more hours sleep was just what he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please do take a moment to leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts. I appreciate each and every one I get. 
> 
> Also don't forget to check out my other stories and come and find me on facebook. My name on there is Strawbie Girrl. I post chapter updates, videos, fan art as well as answer questions that relate to all of my writing.


	4. Relocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baine takes Harry back to his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments, it has meant so much to read your thoughts, especially for a rare pairing and a relatively new creature too. Please enjoy the chapter.

Chapter Four

Severus was not in the best of moods, he had hardly slept more than a few hours before he had been rather rudely awoken by the newly mated Nundu couple having rather loud sex in his guest bedroom. It wasn’t something that he could block out or ignore as it had been so loud. It certainly wasn’t something he ever wanted to see again otherwise he would have gone in and told them to shut the fuck up just so he could get a few more hours rest. Instead he gave up on going back to sleep and got up and instead dragged himself from his bed, getting dressed rather quickly so that he didn’t have to stay and listen to Harry beg and plead for more. It was a matter of minutes between being woken up and him leaving his house, not even taking the time to shower. 

There were plenty of things that that he could have been doing other than sleeping, which was the one of the other reasons that he hadn’t caused too much of a fuss when he had been unable to go back to sleep. He knew that the Order of the Phoenix would be in a state of chaos with the death of Albus Dumbledore, their leader, to deal with, and then there was the disappearance of Harry Potter, their golden boy, too. Tonight the war was going to tip in favour of one side or the other and there was no telling which way it was going to go. As usual it all rested on the shoulders of a boy far too young to be dealing with any of it. 

Everyone was going to be assuming that Harry was dead, though he of course knew differently and he wanted to give others some hope too. He didn’t want for Baine and Harry to run off and do whatever it was that they planned to do. If they followed through on their ridiculous plan then the side of Voldemort and the Deatheaters would have the upper hand. This was something that he and a lot of other people had been trying very hard to prevent, Severus wasn’t going to let it happen without a fight. His plan was to find out what the Order of the Phoenix were all thinking and go from there because despite everything he didn’t want for his friend to get into trouble for what had happened. Baine had managed to keep himself hidden, he had gone unnoticed and his creature inheritance had never been discovered. Now Bellatrix and Lucius had both seen a Nundu, they were both raving about it to all and any who would listen, Severus was sure that Voldemort would already know about it. Baine’s secret was not going to remain a secret for long. It was the kind of information that the Order needed to know but he needed to give it to them in a way that wouldn’t incriminate himself or Baine. 

Despite the romantic notions that Harry and Baine had about running off and disappearing from the world and their responsibilities, Severus knew that it could never work. It would be near impossible for either of them to abstain from magic for a year until the trace was lifted from Harry for one and also, if there was even the smallest hint that Harry was alive then neither the light nor the dark side of the war would stop searching for him. This was what Severus was counting on, he wasn’t about to let them run off to discover that it couldn’t work. There had to be another path to take, one that would benefit everyone. 

Baine might have been his best friend and in some regards, Severus was thrilled that finally, Baine had found someone whom he could relate to, someone to settle down with. However it was just a shame that that person was Harry Potter. Dumbledore had already explained that it was likely that Harry would have to die for Voldemort to perish also and Severus didn’t want to see Baine heartbroken. Not that he could tell his friend any of this. In truth it was just a huge mess. 

He might have hated James Potter and his band of bullies but Severus had loved Lily, adored her down to the air she breathed and the ground she walked on. He owed her enough that he would protect her son until the point that he couldn’t any longer, regardless of Harry’s poor choices in his life. Severus was determined to make sure that the irritating teenager was kept safe until he had to fulfil his destiny, even if that meant he was with Baine now, which it seemed that he was. More than anything it pained Severus to see Lily’s son turn into this, when she had been so innocent and pure. 

After leaving his home, Severus had headed straight for Grimmauld place, despite Sirius having died at the end of the last school term, the Order was still using the old Black residence as its headquarters. The ownership of the house had reverted to Harry’s name as Sirius had wished it to and before leaving Hogwarts for the summer Potter had confirmed that Grimmauld Place could still be used by the Order of the Phoenix as their main base of operations. 

The potions master suspected that this was where the members of the Order that he needed to speak to would have gathered. He was rather surprised when there was nothing but silence when he arrived at the Ancient magical home. He had thought that there was going to be a mass of chaos and confusion. Instead there were three sat solemnly at the kitchen table, whispering amongst themselves. Alastor Moody, Tonks and Remus Lupin were sat together in a huddle, all of them looking rather concerned. 

“Ah Severus,” Alastor said in his usual gruff tones, “Perhaps you could shield some light on what the hell is going on,” the Auror said. Looking a little sceptical despite the fact that he knew this was coming, Severus took a seat with the others. He was the man who walked both sides of the war, he would know more than anyone else would and it was clear that they needed any form of news. Severus had not expected for the Order to be so clueless but then it had been hours and there had been no news and no sign of Harry, it seemed that they were at a loss of what to do. 

“Have you heard any news on Harry?” Remus asked hopefully. He was so scared of what might have happened to the young teenager. If it had been a full moon then he would have thought that it was a werewolf attack, the damage had been sufficient enough for it to have been, however since he was two weeks away from the full moon, it simply wasn’t possible.

“I was not part of the group that attacked Potter’s home when the wards fell,” Severus informed them rather solemnly, “however when I was made aware of what had happened I went to Malfoy Manor to gather information.” Remus, Alastor and Tonks were hanging on his every word, desperate for any scrap of information they could gather, despite two of them being trained Auror’s none of them knew what to do now that their leader was dead. 

“What did you find?” Tonks asked desperately. She was optimistic that Harry was still alive, she just wanted to hear of any sign that Harry was still with them, even if it meant that he had been captured by deatheaters. She would have prefered for Harry to be in the hands of the enemy than dead and beyond their reach, at least if Harry had been captured then they could rescue him. 

Severus sighed, realising that he needed to tell them, though he had to do so carefully, picking his words with care, he didn’t want to out his friend after all, however if the situation was ever going to be rectified and Harry returned to his rightful pedestal on the side of the light then he needed to give the Order something to work with. “Bellatrix and Lucius were sure that they saw some form of creature there.” Severus didn’t want to bring Baine into this at all, he was not a highly ranked deatheater, his crimes were minimal, he wasn’t in the league as Malfoy or Lestrange that was for sure. 

“Do you know what sort?” Alastor asked, looking rather concerned with this new development, his mind whirring as fast as his false eye, the thoughts of what had happened the previous evening not really making a whole lot of sense to him. He usually prided himself in working things out and figuring out the truth in record time but there was something about what had happened and the death of Dumbledore along with the Dursley’s that simply didn’t make sense. 

“I did not see the creature for myself,” Severus informed them, wanting to make this point very clear, “however Bellatrix is convinced that what she saw was a Nundu, Lucius too backs her up on this. They both saw the creature and were sure,” he told them. He could tell that all three knew of the creature as they all looked utterly horrified at the thought of one of these creatures being sighted in England. 

“Are you sure? I mean Bellatrix, she isn’t exactly known for her sanity?” Tonks asked, Bellatrix might have been her aunt but that didn’t mean that the woman was exactly sane. She would have much prefered to think badly of her estranged family than believe that there was an actual Nundu walking the streets of Surrey where unsuspecting muggles might chance upon it. It took at least a hundred wizards to bring one down, muggles wouldn’t stand a chance. 

“If it was just Bellatrix then I too would question it,” Severus said rather formally, not wanting them to consider other options, he needed for them to believe this, though he knew that he wasn’t exactly pitching it in the best light. He wouldn’t have believed something if Bellatrix was the only one to be sure of it either. “Considering Lucius is also confirming this I don’t see any reason to doubt.” 

“How could such a creature even have come to exist in this country?” Remus asked with confusion, he knew a lot about these creatures, he had studied dark and dangerous creatures a lot because of what he was, though he was certainly no expert in the subject. “The only known Nundu left alive are living in Africa, the last one in this country died at least a century ago if not two.” 

“Unless it wasn’t a full Nundu,” Moody barked out as the realisation hit him, his statement causing both Remus and Tonks to look at him with wide eyed surprise as they too caught on to what he was suggesting. Severus couldn’t be surprised that it had taken Alastor less than a few minutes to make this deduction, he was a trained Auror after all, not to mention an intelligent man too, so it really wasn’t a shock at all. “It is Potter’s sixteenth birthday today,” he added as a form of explanation to back up his theory. 

“Are you suggesting that Harry is a human Nundu?” Remus asked horrified at the very suggestion, Alastor nodded his head in confirmation that this was indeed what he was getting at. When he had first voiced this thought he wasn’t sure that it could be true but the more that he thought about it the more likely it was. “Such inheritance is rare, there is no way Harry was involved in enough dark magic to have that kind of inheritance.”

Remus might not have been an expert on the subject but he knew enough to know just how much dark magic a person had to be involved in to have such inheritance make itself active in the bloodline. Though one thing that he couldn’t question was some form of inheritance being a possibility. The Potter family tree could be traced back to link in with that of the Black’s and the Malfoy’s, even the Weasley’s though it was all very distant now. Who knew what kind of creature blood lurked in the veins of the most ancient of pure-blooded families. 

“He survived a killing curse,” Tonks said, as if any of them could have forgotten this little fact, “that is pretty dark magic, I think we have to consider the possibility that this is what’s happened.” She didn’t like to think of the little Harry that she knew being anything dark and dangerous, she honestly didn’t think that he had it in him but it was certainly looking like the most likely scenario, after all there had been no body, in fact there had been no sign of Harry at all. 

“The killing curse when he was a baby wouldn’t have been enough. Since then he’s been given love and affection, taught good magic, there is no way that this could have happened,” Remus said insistently. He didn’t want to think that his best friends son could be anything other than human, especially not a creature as dark or as dangerous as a Nundu. 

“It wouldn’t have just been the killing curse,” Severus said with a sigh, he wasn’t sure how much Dumbledore had informed the others of what he had found out and the plans that he had made since, however now that the headmaster was dead he thought that it was perhaps time that a few more people knew about his grand plan. “The night that the Dark Lord killed Lily and James, the love Lily had for Harry saved the boy.” 

“We all know this,” Alastor said impatiently, he had heard the story so many times and he wasn’t sure what the relevance of it now could be, not when Harry was missing, either dead or turned into a creature that could only be condemned. 

“Yes,” Severus said icily, never one to appreciate being interrupted, not even from the likes of Alastor Moody, “however what is not such common knowledge is the Dark Lords creation of Horcruxes. I believe Dumbledore was gathering information on them before he died with the aim of destroying them, it is my belief that he was going to have the Potter boy help him hunt them all down and destroy them.” 

“Horcruxes?” Tonks asked a little bemused, it wasn’t often that she came across mentions of such rare and dark magic, “I’ve heard of this magic before but I’m not sure what it could possibly have to do with Voldemort and Harry.” This conversation was not one she thought that she would ever be privy too, not even as an Auror. This war was getting darker than she had ever imagined possible, even from the likes of Voldemort. 

“Voldemort created six of them, severing his soul into seven pieces,” Severus explained, glad of the horrified expressions on the faces of the others, it meant that they were taking what he was saying seriously. In truth, Severus couldn’t believe that Dumbledore had not shared this information to anyone other than him, he needed for other people to know in case something happened to him. Acting as a spy meant that there was always a risk that one day he wouldn’t come home and he was okay with that but it meant that he had to share as much information as possible so that what he had learnt didn’t die with him. 

“So that he can’t die,” Alastor said with a grimace, knowing just how hard this was going to make the job of destroying the evil wizard. Tracking down such creations that could be almost anything was going to be nigh on impossible. With Dumbledore dead it seemed that all hope was lost for them winning this war. 

“Dumbledore had been working on tracking them down, he shared a little information with me but there is something else, something more important,” Severus explained, “the night that the Dark Lord attempted to kill the Potters, Albus believed that Voldemort created an eighth Horcrux by mistake. It is possible that he doesn’t even know that he made it.” 

Remus’ eyes went wide in horror at the thought as it clicked in his head, “you cannot mean…” he began and solemnly Severus nodded his head in confirmation, glad that what he was saying was sinking in and that they were understanding him. 

“Yes,” the potion master confirmed, “if this is the case and Dumbledore was correct when he assumed this, then I think that it could have been enough dark magic connected to the boy for a long enough period of time that such inheritance could have been brought out in him.” 

“Harry has part of Voldemort’s soul inside of him?” Tonks asked in utter shock, not wanting to believe it but again Severus nodded in confirmation. He knew that they needed to know this, all of the little secrets that Dumbledore had kept needed to come to light sooner rather than later, especially if they were ever going to help Harry and win with war. 

“Does that mean that…” Remus began, looking utterly horrified at the idea. The thought that Harry had been the one to kill the three Dursley’s and Dumbledore was truly horrifying. Remus had gone with Alastor and Tonks to clean up Privet Drive and ensure that all traces of magic were gone from the home. The state of the bodies had made him vomit and he hadn’t been the only one. Alastor had been the only one of them to keep the contents of his stomach down. Remus just couldn’t comprehend how Harry could have been the one to do it, he was such a kind hearted boy, it just seemed so wrong. 

“Potter killed his family and Dumbledore,” Moody finished with a growl of anger. He wasn’t overly shocked, when the idea of Potter having come into some form of creature inheritance was suggested it had crossed his mind almost instantly. Severus had not been expecting this reaction, it wasn’t exactly something that Harry could have controlled or done anything to prevent, it was unlikely that Potter would have even known what was happening to him when the change hit. No one could have predicted this or prevented it. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting but it certainly wasn’t anger. 

“It means that he is still alive,” Tonks said and there was genuine hope in her voice, she would cling to it as long as she could because the last thing she wanted was to mourn the loss of Harry, a boy whom she had a great fondness for, “we have to try and find him! He’s probably scared and alone with no idea what’s going on.” 

“The Ministry has a strict guideline about what to do with these creatures,” Moody snarled at them, slamming his fist down on the table, unable to believe that they were talk about finding him and giving him sympathy. If it had been any other creature then maybe he could have seen it in a similar light, however not a Nundu. He had come across one in his time, not in this country thankfully, however he had still witnessed the devastation that the creature had caused before it had been brought down. Over fifty men had died in the attempt, the four that Harry had murdered were only the beginning. 

Severus was rather shocked at this, he had known that the Ministry had strict protocol on how to deal with dark and dangerous creatures such as Nundu’s however this was Harry Potter. The potions master hadn’t thought that the usual rules would apply to the boy, however he could see now that he had perhaps made an error in assuming this. Dumbledore had always made such allowances for the young man, now that he was dead it seemed that it wouldn’t be happening any more. 

“You can’t kill him!” Remus said calmly, though his tone was firm on this matter. He wasn’t going to sit back and allow for the teenager, who was likely scared and confused, be hunted down and killed for something that he couldn’t control and likely had no idea about. He knew that any kind of transformation into animal form, unless you were a animagus, left you rather confused and with patches of memory loss. Remus knew that it was unlikely that Harry remembered what had happened or what he had done. He had rather a lot of sympathy for Harry considering how similar they were now. 

“Remus is right,” Severus said, never thinking for a second that those words would come out from his mouth, “not least because with a part of Voldemort inside of him he cannot be killed. He has to be the one to kill the Dark Lord, Dumbledore replayed the prophecy to me, trust me when I tell you that that boy cannot be killed!” 

“This is the prophecy that Harry went to get from the Ministry at the end of last term?” Remus asked and Severus nodded his head. That whole debacle had been disastrous, though it had at least given Harry some insight to his fate in this war, showing him what was expected of him. They all knew that Harry had gone to the Ministry for a prophecy, Dumbledore had just failed to tell them what the prophecy had contained and why it had been so important for Harry to hear it. No one had been focusing on that, not when Sirius had just died. 

“Then we lock him up in Azkaban!” Alastor said harshly, ignoring what Remus had asked completely, he didn’t care about the damn prophecy right now, not when people were dying, “the boy is a monster, a murderer and he cannot be allowed to walk free. Prophecy or not, Potter needs to be found and contained.” 

“I can agree that he needs to be found but this isn’t something that he has been able to control!” Remus argued, wanting to make his feelings on the matter perfectly clear. He didn’t want to see Harry condemned for this so easily, not when there were so many other options open to them. Alastor, however, didn’t seem to be able to see anything other than Ministry protocol, caring very little for the sixteen year old that they would be locking up in Azkaban. “Harry needs to be taught how to control this, not locked away like some form of criminal!” 

“Shall we first attempt to find him,” Severus suggested, not wanting to sit here and listen to them all argue back and forth like petulant children. Besides, it was useless to argue on what to do with the boy when they had no clue as to where he was, once he was found then they could debate on what to do, though Severus thought it a moot point, if Baine didn’t want them to find Harry then they wouldn’t. Also, it wasn’t like Harry wanted to be found, Tonks and Remus assumed that he would, that he would be scared and alone, though that was very far from the truth. 

Severus could clearly see that neither Remus nor Alastor were going to back down on this issue, both of them feeling rather passionately about the subject after the experiences their lives had given them. It was going to be a never ending bickering match if they didn’t stop, especially with Tonks who was likely going to remain neutral between the two of them because she didn’t want to see anyone fighting, especially not her co-worker and her crush. 

“Severus is right,” Tonk’s said, jumping on this idea as Severus had thought that she might, “if we’re all in agreement that Harry is alive then we have to find him. Are you sure that no deatheaters have him?” 

“No,” Severus lied, well practiced in the art by now, “if he had been captured then the world would know of it, there hasn’t even been a whisper of it. I do not doubt though that Bellatrix and Lucius will be rushing to tell their Lord of what they have seen. We will not be the only ones looking for him.” 

“Go back to them,” Moody snarled, knowing that Severus was right, they were going to have to find Harry before anyone else did and it was useless arguing over his fate now, “keep track of what they know and what they find,” he instructed firmly. 

Severus was not usually one to take orders, however in this situation he wasn’t going to be putting up much of a fight, not when he knew perfectly well where Harry was and with whom he was in the company of. He honestly had not expected for the Order of the Phoenix to react so badly to what had happened to Harry, he certainly hadn’t thought that they would want to put a sixteen year old boy in Azkaban for something he couldn’t control. It was clear that Severus had severely misjudged some members of the Order and it left him wondering what would have happened if Dumbledore was still alive. He was sure that the headmaster would not have even considered putting Harry into Azkaban, Nundu or not, he would have found another way. 

He might not have liked Baine and Harry’s plan to disappear from the world together, however Severus could certainly see the merits of that now he knew how some of the teenagers closest allies were reacting. He didn’t want to see Harry thrown in Azkaban, no matter how much he disliked the boy. Whatever Dumbledore had had planned for the boy this was pretty far from that and in truth, he didn’t know what to do. 

\---------x

Spinner’s End was silent when he returned, he knew better to think that his guests had left, the fact that they were sleeping soundly when he was filled with worry and concern for the both of them made him angry. Suddenly not caring what he saw, having already got an eyeful earlier, Severus withdrew his wand and stormed up the stairs. 

He burst through the door to the guest bedroom, Baine and Harry, as he had assumed, still in bed, fortunately blankets covering anything the potions master didn’t want to see. With a flick of his wand both men yelped as they were flung from the bed and tumbled gracelessly to the floor, pillows and blankets and all. 

“No,” Harry suddenly screamed, “I’m sorry Uncle Vernon, I’ll be good, I promise, please don’t hurt me!” There was genuine terror in the teenagers tone as the terrified boy pushed himself back until he his a solid wall where he curled up into a ball, head resting on his arms as he sobbed into his knees. 

Severus was momentarily startled by Harry’s reaction, a little shocked by what he was hearing. As far as he had been aware Harry had grown up in a normal, loving family home that had nurtured and protected him. This reaction, however, was a sign that that had not been the case. 

Baine was at once on his feet and draping one of the blankets around Harry who was trembling terribly, ignoring Severus who was watching in a mixture of confusion and irritation. The teenager was mumbling unintelligible words to himself, sobbing uncontrollably. “It’s alright,” Baine whispered to the hysterical teenager, “Harry, look at me, you’re safe here,” he said as Harry finally raised his head, looking at him through watery green eyes. 

Unsure about what had happened and whether or not he had been the one to cause it, Severus kept back from the couple, he knew how dangerous Baine could be when he was angry and the potion master didn’t want to end up the same way as Dumbledore. It was then that he noticed Harry’s hands, or more specifically his nails, they had grown and sharpened into claws and Baine was trying to calm him down, to stop him from transforming. 

“No one is going to hurt you here,” Baine said in his hushed tones, one hand going to stroke the thick tufts of raven hair, trying to reassure the sixteen year old. “You are safe here, I will protect you.” Severus didn’t miss how close Baine got to Harry, nor how the teenager closed his eyes and took long, deep, steadying breaths, inhaling the scent of his mate. 

Only once he could see that Harry had visibly relaxed and his fingernails had returned to normal did Baine turn to face Severus, a glint of anger in his dark brown eyes. Baine however kept his temper, though only because he knew that if he lost it then there was no telling what Harry would do. Neither of them wanted the young man to change here in front of them, he was still disorientated and wouldn’t know what he was doing. It would take a while before he knew what he was doing in his transformed state. 

“What did you think you were doing?” Baine snarled, though he kept his voice down to a whisper. Harry was still in the corner of the room crying a little, the blanket wrapped around his naked form. He was furious at what his friend had done, though it had unearthed a huge problem, one that was going to eat away at Baine until he figured out what had happened. Just from Harry’s reaction, Baine could tell that something had happened to him, enough to give the young man nightmares and scare him enough that he would want to transform to protect himself. 

“You need to leave,” Severus hissed, he would not regret his actions, not after what had been discussed at Grimmauld Place. It was information that he knew he should have relayed to Baine, however now was neither the time nor the place to do so. The last thing either of them wanted was for Harry to overhear them. Despite the teenagers distressed state the two grown were aware that he could very well be listening to them. 

“Is that it then Severus?” Baine asked, glowering at the other man, his fists clenching at his sides, “after years of friendship, you are kicking me out?” Baine cared very little for the fact that he was naked, he was focused on not allowing his rage to get the better of him. After so many years of being a human Nundu he thought that he had a handle on the inner creature, however this time his anger was slowly getting the better of him. The last thing he wanted was to lose control and to transform. 

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Severus snapped, not knowing just how close he was getting to danger. He didn’t understand the effect that Harry had one Baine, just how protective the dominant was over his submissive mate. “They aren’t convinced that he’s dead, they’re looking for him!” 

“I did nothing but help him!” Baine said, fighting to keep his voice low and temper under control. He pushed back the change, forcing it down, not allowing the beast inside of him to take over. Severus was still his friend and he didn’t want to hurt him, not like he had hurt his family. Anger fueled or not, if Baine lost control now he would be able to remember what he did and he didn’t want that guilt weighing him down. 

“You should never have brought him here,” Severus said, getting annoyed now. He knew that Baine had helped Harry, however fucking him into the mattress and bonding with him, none of that had been helping him. Harry had just turned sixteen years old, Baine was halfway to being thirty six, Severus couldn’t give his blessings to this. 

“Then let me rectify the problem,” Baine hissed, turning his back on his childhood friend. He couldn’t believe what Severus was saying, that the one person that he had trusted more than anyone since he was a young boy was turning his back on him and all because he had found a mate. 

Going to Harry, who was no longer crying, though still trembling a little, Baine took him into his arms. At once, Harry wrapped his arms around his mate, burying his face into the older man’s chest. Baine wasn’t sure what this young man had been through but his first priority was to get Harry somewhere that he would be safe and away from harm. 

“If you continue down this road Baine, I won’t be able to help you,” Severus warned. He wanted to help Harry, he wanted to keep Baine out of trouble. If Alastor Moody was eager to condemn and imprison Harry Potter who was a beacon of hope to the wizarding world, then they would no doubt kill Baine at first sight, with no hesitation. All Severus wanted was to protect his friend, however it seemed that Baine didn’t want that help. 

“I never wanted your help,” Baine said as he bypassed Severus and headed for the door, hesitating for a moment, “I just wanted a friend,” he added with a sigh before disapparating with Harry wrapped up in his arms.

Severus honestly didn’t know where to go from here. At least he wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t know where Harry was now, it was the only plus side he could see to this situation now. The Order of the Phoenix were hunting Harry, very soon Voldemort and the deatheaters would be doing the same. The Wizarding World was at war and the side of the light were not winning, not anymore. 

\-------x

The Deatheaters had been sent out in force. Low ranking and high ranking, it didn’t matter because Voldemort wanted answers. The Dark Lord had been jubilant at the news of Albus Dumbledore’s untimely demise, it was rare to see Voldemort in anything close to a good mood but with the right person dead it could happen. Now however he wanted to know what had happened to Harry.

Voldemort was reluctant to believe that the Potter boy was dead, he wouldn’t believe it until he had seen evidence, as there was none he refused to think it true. He had sent out all of his followers in the hope that they would be able to uncover something for him, if they couldn’t then they would be punished for their incompetence. 

He had been most fascinated by the sighting of a Nundu, such creatures were rare and he could only imagine the power it would give him to have one under his control. He knew the stories of the other wizards who had thought the same thing, they had all been killed by the creatures but he was so much more powerful than any of them. He would be able to achieve what everyone else had failed to do, he just had to track them down. 

“My Lord,” Lucius said, breaking Voldemort from his musings, so deep in thought, Tom had not noticed one of his most loyal servants enter the room, however the eldest Malfoy was on his knees, bowed down before him as was his place, which appeased Voldemort to allow him to speak. 

“Go ahead,” the Dark Lord said, his voice a soft hiss that rolled off his tongue as silkily as if he were a snake, red eyes narrowed to slits, almost daring this man to be wasting his time. For Lucius’ sake he had better be bringing good news or else there was going to be consequences. 

“I have heard whisperings, my Lord,” Malfoy said, ensuring to keep his head bowed, to not raise his head and make eye contact. He had seen others make this mistake and pay the price for their insubordinance. He was smart enough to keep himself out of the firing line of his Lord most of the time, however sometimes there was just no avoiding it. “At the Ministry there is talk of the creature that was spotted, the Nundu, I have heard it suggested that it was a human Nundu.” 

“What are you suggesting?” Voldemort demanded, his voice a little more harsh now, though still smooth and silky, as if he was on the edge of his temper. Then again, Voldemort was always on the edge of losing his temper, Lucius could see that his Lord was gripping at his wand, fingers twitching, ready to use it. 

Lucius swallowed nervously, wondering if he should be here at all, whether giving Voldemort nothing but rumours was a good idea, however he couldn’t second guess his decision now, it was too late to turn back. “Other’s are starting to discuss the possibility that the Nundu that was seen was Harry Potter.” 

At this, Tom’s face visibly changed, not that Lucius saw this, he was too busy keeping his eyes down on the floor as a sign of respect. Voldemort toyed with this idea in his mind, thinking it over with amusement, it was information that he could certainly use to his advantage, that was for sure. “Anything else?” Tom asked, his tone silky smooth, almost sickeningly so now, a gut clenching smile on his lips. 

“Yes,” Lucius said, swallowing nervously, unsure if this was worth mentioning or not, however he was here now and he knew that he may as well divulge all of the information while he was here. “Two Nundu’s were seen leaving the muggle house where Potter resided, there are two of them.”

\--------x

Since Hermione had been told about Harry’s disappearance she had been unable to stop herself from grabbing every book that mentioned the trace that she could get her hands on. She wanted to know the inner workings on the magic behind it so she could learn how to adjust it to what she needed, determined to find her friend before something bad happened to him. 

She wasn’t sure how she was going to manage it yet, however the idea was that she would be able to use the existing magic of the trace and add in her own spell work that would enable them to get an exact location on their missing friend without him using magic or anyone using magic around him. She was sure that she had read something similar being done before but she just had to find it. 

Hermione was sure that if someone had Harry captive then they were smart enough not to use magic anywhere close to him out of fear of activating the trace. They already knew that Harry wouldn’t be able to use magic himself, his wand along with the rest of his worldly possessions had all been found at the Dursley’s home when Remus, Tonks and Moody had gone back to clean up the mess. Everything Harry owned had been relocated to Grimmauld Place for the moment, put away safely in Sirius’ room for when Harry was located and brought home. 

She was currently sat in Ginny’s bedroom reading when the twins came in, ushering both of their younger siblings in before them, closing the door to ensure that they had some privacy from the adults in the house. In George’s hand were a pair of extendable ears, making it rather obvious what they had been up to. 

Half an hour or so ago Tonks and Remus had arrived at the Burrow in need of tea, Molly had instantly ushered her children out of the room and up the stairs so that they wouldn’t hear what was being said; in her opinion they had already heard enough and she didn’t want them knowing anything else, sure that they wouldn’t be able to handle it. Fred and George had not taken kindly to this and egged on by Ron and Ginny, the twins had used their invention and eavesdropped on the conversation going on in the kitchen. 

“What’s going on?” Hermione asked, looking up from her book, the four present Weasley children were looking a little forlorn and she was almost worried about asking what it was that they had heard, concerned that her research was all for nought and that Harry had been lost to them. 

“It’s Harry,” George said, his face ashen as he looked to Fred who didn’t look much better. Frowning in confusion, worry building in her stomach, Hermione put the book down, being careful to mark her place first as she didn’t want to have to start all over again when she was making so much progress. Ginny and Ron came to join her on the bed while the twins remained standing, looking a little uncomfortable with what they were about to say. 

“What about him?” Hermione asked, unsure if she actually wanted to hear this. If they said that it had been confirmed that Harry was dead then she wasn’t sure she was going to have the strenght to keep fighting. Harry was one of the strongest people she knew, the hope that he might still be alive was the only thing keeping her going and she knew that she wasn’t the only person who felt that way either. 

“Remus and Tonks, they went to that house where he was living during the holidays,” George said solemnly, “to, you know, clean up…” 

“They found other things,” Fred continued when it became clear that George was struggling a little. The two of them were going to have to help each other out with this as it wasn’t going to be easy to share what they had learnt. “There was evidence that Harry was being abused by his family,” he said sadly. 

“Abused?” Ginny asked with a frown, not wanting to think of the horrific things that might have happened to her brothers best friend. She could only imagine the things that had happened, she knew that it had been bad for him and that Harry had never wanted to go home during the holidays and if the option was there he would always remain at Hogwarts, however she had never thought that it was that bad. 

“They can’t be sure but it looks like he was sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs, bottles of pee under the bed…” George continued, looking a little like he might be sick if he carried on, however he didn’t let it get the better of him, if Harry could survive it then he could at least talk about it. 

“I’ve seen bruises,” Ron admitted with a frown, “but whenever I asked him about them he always said that it was him being clumsy, I never thought that it could be…” 

“None of us did,” Hermione said quickly, not wanting for Ron to feel guilty about this, if Harry didn’t want them to know something then they wouldn’t know. There were a lot of things that she didn’t share and she was sure that Harry would have been the same. “Do they have any leads on what might have happened to him?” 

“Yes,” Fred said, though at this his frown seemed to deepen, “Tonks and Remus met with Severus at Grimmauld place a few hours ago,” he told them, hating that he was even suggesting this but he knew that he had to relay what they had heard because if it was true then there was a lot that they had to call into question. 

“Snape?” Ron asked in confusion, “What would he know?” 

“A lot apparently,” George said, “he’s been liaising with some of his deatheater pals and it seems that they were there when it happened, or at least in the aftermath of it, they know a lot more about what went on there last night than we did.” 

“Do they know what happened to Harry?” Ginny asked hopefully, she wanted to know one way or another if Harry was alive or dead, not know was eating away at her. She was sure that she loved him and she hated not knowing what had happened, she wanted to help him in any way that he could. 

“Two deatheaters saw a Nundu,” Fred said, “it was this creature that was apparently… eating Dumbledore,” he finished, looking to his twin pleading with him to continue because he knew that if did then he was going to throw up. 

“With no sign of a body and no blood to suggest that Harry died in that house last night, they think that maybe Harry could have been that Nundu,” George finished. 

“But how?” Ron asked, “that kind of inheritance is rare, Nundu are native to Africa not here, they’re the creatures that mum used to tell us about to stop us getting out of bed in the middle of the night.” 

“Remus said something about a part of Voldemort's soul being inside of Harry, I don’t really understand that part but he said that that would have been enough dark magic to bring out that kind of inheritance,” Fred said, looking to Hermione with interest, “would you be able to find out what the hell that means?” 

“Of course,” Hermione confirmed, “but I want to finish this first,” she added, motioning to the book on the bed beside her, “I think I’ve found a way to tap into the trace and alter it a little to locate an underage witch or wizard. It was used a few centuries ago when there was a spate of disappearances of children,” she explained. 

“We’ll help,” Ginny said with a smile, wanting to get to the bottom of what was going on more than anything. She couldn’t believe that Harry was any kind of monster, she was going to help Hermione find him and prove that he had been taken hostage by some deatheaters and wasn’t a Nundu like some of the Order thought he might be. 

“Let’s look into this Nundu thing too,” George said after receiving a worried look from Fred. “If he is this creature then that means he was the one to kill Dumbledore and he might not want to be found, though more importantly we might not want to be the ones to find him.” 

“He’s still our friend,” Ron said adamantly, “whatever happened there would have been a reason, I refuse to believe that Harry would hurt anyone, especially not Dumbledore. If he is this creature then there has to be a reason and he’ll still need our help.” 

“I agree with Ron,” Hermione said with a small smile to the boy in question, “though just to be sure we’ll look into the Nundu as well, if Remus is right and Harry did get this creature inheritance then we need to be careful, from what I can remember of them they are extremely dangerous.” 

“Yeah,” George said solemnly, “I think that Dumbledore and all three of Harry’s relatives can atest to that fact.” 

“I don’t think that that was called for,” Ginny replied tersely as she picked up one of the books that Hermione was yet to read and opened it, nudging Ron so that he did the same. Whatever had happened they were going to get to the bottom of it. 

\------------x

After leaving Spinner’s End, Baine had relocated them both to his home on the borders of Scotland and England. The mini mansion was in the middle of a field between two sections of Leithope forest, it was well warded and difficult to access without apperating in, which was why his family had decided to build here. The home had been in Baine’s family for many generations, it was the place that he had grown up in, the place that he had murdered his family in too, there were as many bad memories here as good ones but he still remained. 

This place was in his blood, there was no escaping it. He might have killed his family here but it was the only place that he felt any form of connection to them, it was the only reason why he remained in the ancient house, haunted by the many things that had gone on here. Many a time he pondered over selling it but every time he came close he lost the nerve and just couldn’t stand the thought of parting with the place. If he ever did it would mean leaving a lot behind. 

Though that didn’t mean that it was easy to stay either, not when he remembered how his father had often beat his mother, her screams and pleas for him to stop echoing through the halls and he could remember when he was just ten years old when his younger sister had died within these walls, supposedly passing peacefully in her sleep though he had never been so sure about this. Baine was glad that she hadn’t been there six years later when he had transformed, he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he had killed her too. 

Baine hoped that with Harry here they could build a life together, that they could create good memories together to go towards wiping away the bad things that had happened here and he wanted those memories to include cubs of their own. Baine had long ago given up on the idea of having a family, however the idea had been reawakened upon finding Harry, his very own submissive, and he was determined to keep that dream alive. 

“You live here?” Harry asked, rather astounded by the size of the place they had just appeared in. The two of them were in an impressive entrance hall made of black marble and grey stone. A staircase in white marble on each side of the room that ascended up onto the expansive landing above them, to Harry it could be rivaled only by the grand staircase at Hogwarts. 

“It is my family home,” Baine confirmed at the question. He was watching Harry very carefully, wanting to see the teenagers reaction, of course the fact that the teenager was still very much naked didn’t hurt the view at all. It was Baine’s hope that they would live here together so it was important that Harry liked it. If he didn’t then there were no limits to what Baine would do to remodel the place so that Harry felt comfortable. 

“You have a family?” Harry asked, looking up at Baine curiously. They hadn’t known each other long and they hadn’t had any of the important discussion, they barely knew anything about one another but Harry was still shocked to hear that Baine had a family, it wasn’t something that he had been expecting. 

“Not any more,” the older man responded gently as Harry drew his sheet around himself more securely. He was not as confident as what Baine was when it came to nudity, he wasn’t sure how the older male didn’t feel the slightest embarrassment at walking around fully nude, even being in his own home, it would still feel weird for Harry. It wasn’t like he had ever had any privacy at the Dursley's, though it was rare that he was afforded the luxury of a shower or bath anyway. 

“I’m sorry,” Harry said gently, leaning into Baine’s side as he took in the magnificence of the room, trying not to think of the horrors of what he had suffered at the hands of his relatives. He wasn’t sure why he was saying that he was sorry, he hadn’t known Baine’s family at all, they were both alone in the world it seemed. Harry could never count the Dursley’s as family, not after everything that they had done to him. It was almost a comfort to know that there were other people in the world just as lonely as he was. 

“They died a long time ago,” Baine said without a hint of sadness in his tone. Of course he grieved for the loss of his family, however the guilt was more dominant than any feeling of sadness he had. Harry did not need to know the how or the why of his family's demise, at least not yet, though he knew that it would be a conversation they would have to have eventually. 

“This house seems so big just for you,” Harry said, noticing several doors and corridors branching off from this one room, the landing above them having several more doors and corridors. The teenager couldn’t fathom just how large this place was or how one man could stand to live here all by himself. It seemed like a rather lonely existence, rattling around this huge place with no one to share it with, it made Harry want to curl up on a ball and retreat to his cupboard under the stairs so he would feel secure. 

“It isn’t just for me anymore,” Baine said gently, “it is for the both of us now.” He wanted to introduce this idea to Harry now, wanting to make it clear what his intentions were towards the boy. “This is our home, somewhere that we can be safe.” 

“I’m glad it’s so big then,” Harry said with a sigh, thinking things over and realising that he couldn’t leave this place, not if there plan to disappear from the wizarding world was going to work. He couldn’t be seen in public again if he was going to remain dead. Harry was desperate to prove Severus wrong, he wanted to show the potions master that what they were doing could work. 

Baine looked at Harry curiously as he ushered Harry over to the staircase, encouraging him to take the lead in heading up the stairs. He was keen to show Harry exactly where the two of them would be sleeping as Baine had a few ideas about christening the bed. “Why?” he asked, keeping one hand on the small of Harry’s back as they walked. 

As they walked Harry took in the many ancient tapestries and paintings on the walls, indicating just how long Baine’s family had lived in this residence. Some of the paintings were staring back, whispering amongst each other and following them through the corridors. “Because if we’re going to make people believe that I’m dead I can’t leave here,” Harry explained as he tried very hard not to pay attention to what some of the portraits were doing. 

Baine sighed, knowing that this was going to be a problem if Harry was already feeling this way. “You are not a prisoner here,” he said firmly, “you can walk the grounds, the house is yours to explore and claim as you wish,” he added. There were many rooms in the house, most of them unused, Harry could have any one of them, in fact he could have several, Baine just wanted for Harry to be happy. 

“But I can’t leave,” Harry said with a sigh as they reached a large oak door that was beautifully carved with ornate flowers and vine leaves, “not without being hunted,” he said as he reached forward to touch one of the leaves, “this is beautiful.” 

“This is where we’ll be sleeping,” Baine said, smiling at the look of awe on Harry’s face. Reaching for the handle, Baine opened the door, revealing a lavish bedroom within. A king sized four poster bed with navy blue sheets and a matching canopy. The room could have easily fit several more beds in it, it was so large but the room was furnished with two double sofas, several bookcases and two wardrobes. 

A large fireplace with a roaring fire was the feature of one wall, filling the room with a welcoming warmth. Harry had never seen such a beautiful room, he was certainly not use to such luxury. Stepping over the threshold, the teenager couldn’t help but let out a slow, awed breath. 

“Do you like it?” Baine asked, remaining a few steps behind of Harry, wanting to give him some space to collect his thoughts. After all the poor boy had been through a lot in the past few hours, Baine wasn’t at all surprised that the teenager was feeling a little overwhelmed by everything. 

“It’s more beautiful than I can put into words,” Harry said, his voice a gentle whisper as he stepped slowly over to the fireplace, falling to his knees there and allowing for the heat to envelope him through the thin sheet that was covering his body. 

Baine had remained in the doorway, neither wanting to leave Harry on his own but also wanting to give him some time. His instincts told him to stay however and Baine had spent a lot of his life honing his instincts and he was used to trusting them, so he stayed exactly where he was, shutting the door and leaning against it, simply watching. 

Turning his head, Harry’s eyes fixed on Baine and the teenager smiled softly. “You can join me if you like,” he said gently and almost at once Baine was beside him, kneeling in front of the fire beside his mate. “I can’t explain it,” Harry said in a whisper, “but I can’t stand the thought of you being far away from me.” 

“It is our bond strengthening,” Baine explained, matching his tone to Harry’s, not wanting to break the atmosphere that was surrounding them by speaking too loudly, “it is a feeling that will fade in time, though it will never leave you completely.” 

“I’m not complaining,” Harry said looking into Baine’s eyes and biting his bottom lip as if he was a little unsure of himself, his heart racing a little as the heat from the fire warmed his cooled skin. It felt wonderful to be so warm and to be so close to Baine, he felt safe. “I want you to touch me, it’s all I want,” he said a little nervously and was almost relieved when he saw Baine smile at him. 

“That is something that I cannot get enough of,” he said as he closed the small distance between them, one hand reaching up to caress the teenagers cheek. Harry leaned into his touch, closing his eyes and inhaling his dominants scent, something which seemed to calm and relax him. 

He knew that Harry wanted this and they had already done so much more together but Baine was still a little hesitant, sensing that something had shifted between them, their bond deepening and intensifying. The feeling was something of a turn on to the both of them judging by how hard they both were. The air around them seemed to have thickened, pushing them together in a sweet kiss. 

Harry was the one to take it further, pushing his tongue out to meet Baine’s as his hands came forward, releasing their grip on his sheet so that he could touch his mate, though his hands were trembling as he did so. Baine took this as an open invitation, edging the sheet off from Harry’s shoulders. He did prefer to have his young mate completely nude, just like he was. 

“Eventually I will need clothes,” Harry said with a small giggle, breaking the kiss. The distance between them however didn’t lessen, their hands remaining on each other, stroking and caressing.

“No,” Baine said with a low growl, “I like you this way,” he added before pulling Harry into another kiss, pushing back and lowering them down to the floor so that he was nestled between the teenagers legs. 

Harry was rather grateful for the dark blue rug beneath him as he was thoroughly ravished by his mate, it felt soft against his bare skin as Baine bore down, grinding against him. This was a feeling that Harry was never going to tire of, though hopefully this time it wouldn’t be interrupted and they would be able to rest afterwards without anyone throwing them out of bed too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Please leave a lovely comment and let me know, I'm so happy that you've kept reading this. I'm off to work on the next chapter for The Affliction of War now and will need your lovely words to spur me on.


	5. Initial Disagreement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Baine have their first argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter flowed out very easily, it took me two days from start to finished. I truly love these boys. Please enjoy the chapter and enjoy just how sweet these two can be.

Baine cursed softly as the Dark Mark on his arm burned. It was late into the evening and the sun had long ago set. It seemed that he and Harry, after numerous rounds of rigorous sex, had slept through most of the day and well into the evening as well. Harry was still out for the count beside him, but even as he lay there admiring the perfection of his little submissive his Dark Mark burned again. 

Carefully, so not to rouse his mate from sleep, Baine slipped from their bed. Going for his wardrobe, he noticed a small, timid looking elf by the fireplace, tending to the fire, making sure that it wouldn’t go out. Baine had three house elves in his home and he knew them all by name, for many years they had been his only company in the mansion. 

“Emmy,” Baine said, keeping his voice to a whisper, not wanting to wake Harry, knowing that the teenager would no doubt need his sleep, “I need you to do something for me,” he continued as he grabbed his deatheater robes from his wardrobe, throwing them all as quickly as possible. 

“Anything for you, Master Mulciber,” Emmy said with a low sweeping bow. She had noticed the young man in her Master’s bed when she had first entered into the room but it wasn’t her place to pass comment, though she knew full well who he was. 

“That young man is very important to me,” Baine said quietly, kneeling down in front of the elf, wanting to make his point very clear, “he will be remaining here for the foreseeable future, hopefully for the rest of our lives,” he continued with a small smile on his face. “I will hopefully be back before he wakes up but if I’m not look after him, make sure he’s eaten a good meal, show him where my clothes are, make him comfortable and happy. I won’t be long, tell him that.” 

“Yes, Master Mulciber,” the little elf said with a nod of her head, “I will make sure Mister Harry Potter is well taken care of.” 

“You know who he is?” Baine asked, wondering how on earth this little elf could know of such things. He knew that it had been cruel but the poor creature had rarely been outside of the house, except for a few errands, he didn’t understand how she could have knowledge of Harry. 

“Everyone knows of Harry Potter,” the elf said with a small squeak, worried that she might have angered her master; however, Baine just sighed, realising that Emmy was probably right. The teenager sleeping soundly in his bed was likely known all over the world for what he had done in his short life. 

“Please take care of him,” Baine said, getting to his feet and casting a glance over to the bed where Harry was curled up in the many covers and pillows, whimpering slightly in his sleep. “I won’t be long,” he added before leaving the room, wanting to put some distance between himself and Harry before he disapparated, not wanting to wake his mate. 

\-------------x

Groaning as he started to rouse from sleep, Harry was struggling to move without feeling rather sore. Baine was a rigorous lover and Harry loved it but they had had sex so many times in the past twenty four hours that he was actually feeling rather a lot of pain, especially in his lower back. 

The first thing he noticed was that the bed was empty, the realisation of which was followed by what felt like a deep hole in his chest, as if something was missing. Of course something was and that something was Baine. 

“Baine?” Harry called out, wincing as he tried to sit up, feeling rather confused as to why he had been left on his own. Glancing out of the window, Harry could see that it was still dark outside, though aside from that he had no idea what the time was. “Baine?” he called out again, looking around the room as if his mate might just appear in front of him, however what appeared in front of him was something Harry had not expected. 

“I was not expecting for Mr Harry Potter to be awake so soon,” the little house elf squeaked, bowing low so that her nose grazed the floor. “Would Master like some breakfast or for Emmy to run Mr Harry Potter a bath?” 

“Umm, Emmy, right?” Harry asked, a little taken aback by the many questions that the little elf was asking him. The house elf nodded in response, looking rather eager to please. “Where is Baine?” 

“Master Mulciber left when summoned by his Lord,” the house elf explained, looking rather pleased with herself that she was able to answer Harry’s questions. “He told Emmy to take care of Mr Harry Potter, to make him comfortable and happy. I am under instruction to feed you and giving you clothing.” 

“Okay,” Harry said, processing everything that the little elf had told him, feeling a little uncertain about the fact that Baine had been summoned to see Voldemort, it certainly didn’t make him feel any better about being left alone here. “What time is it?” 

“It is almost five in the morning on the second of August,” Emmy informed him promptly, giving more information than Harry had asked for in her enthusiasm. Harry really wasn’t sure that he felt comfortable with the house elf waiting on him like this, it made him feel very nervous and as if he was somehow taking advantage of the poor creature. 

“Then I suppose I would like a bath but I can do it…” he said but the little house elf had already vanished, leaving Harry rather confused, until a second later Emmy was back with a towel. 

“If Mr Harry Potter sir would like to follow Emmy, I shall take you to the bath,” the elf said, opening one of the doors in the room, motioning for Harry to go through to what he could see was a bathroom. Wrapping one of the sheets around himself, Harry gingerly tried to get out of bed, wincing with the pain of movement as he did so. “Is Mr Harry Potter in pain?” 

“A little but I should be fine after…” however Harry didn’t get to finish his sentence before Emmy had vanished again, only to reappear moments later with a small star shaped pot filled with a green balm that she offered out to him. “What is it?” he asked warily, taking it from the house elf, though a little unsure if he could trust what was being offered. 

“It is Star Grass Salve,” Emmy told him, smiling up at him happily, however when Harry continued to look at the stuff with confusion, she of course elaborated, “it is a medicinal balm for relieving pain Sir.”

“Oh,” Harry said giving it a sniff and frowning at it. He was in rather a lot of discomfort and some relieving balm would have gone a long way to helping him feel a little more comfortable but he still wasn’t convinced that what the elf had given him was what she claimed it to be. “I’ll put it on after my bath,” he said to appease the little creature. 

“This way, Mr Harry Potter,” Emmy said with excitement, walking a little ahead of Harry so that she walked into the steam filled bathroom first, placing the towel down beside a tub so big that Harry was sure it could have fit several fully grown men. The house elf had filled it with sweet scented bubbles, the perfume of which filled the room. 

Harry had to take a moment to fully appreciate the room he had just stepped into. The tub was in the centre of the room and slightly sunken into the floor, though there were marble steps both in and out. A double headed shower to the corner of the room, a long counter across one wall with a large ornate mirror above each sink and of course the toilet, which Harry found he was actually rather desperate for. 

“Here is a robe and a towel, Emmy will prepare your breakfast for you while you bathe Sir, is there anything in particular that Mr Harry Potter would like?” 

“Umm, I don’t know,” Harry said, hesitating a little. He wasn’t sure what he liked for breakfast, it was rare at the Dursley’s that he ever got breakfast let alone a choice of what he wanted. While at Hogwarts he had always stuck to the basics, cereals, toast and porridge however now that he had the option… “Could I have pancakes?” he asked a little uncertainty, Emmy however practically beamed at him. 

“Mr Harry Potter can have whatever he likes, Emmy will make Sir pancakes as he likes,” the house elf said with such excitement that Harry found himself rather concerned for the poor creature. However in the blink of an eye she was gone and he was able to relieve himself before climbing into the bath. 

Allowing the water to wash over him, Harry sighed, the heat tending to his overworked muscles. Though it didn’t seem to matter how relaxed the bath made him feel, he still felt a little on edge and he knew that it was because Baine wasn’t here and he didn’t know where he was. 

It was a strange feeling, one that Harry wasn’t familiar with. He had yearned to be back at Hogwarts, he had even missed his friends on the long summer breaks where they had no choice but to return home. However he had never felt so desperately alone than he did when Baine wasn’t close by. It was supposed to be their bond strengthening but it was making Harry’s heart hurt.

He didn’t spend very long in the bath, certainly not long enough to justify the amount of bubbles and perfume that Emmy had used in it. Harry, however, just felt uncomfortable lounging about in the hot water, so unlike the buckets of cold water that his Uncle had thrown over him to clean him. Thinking about that made a feeling of cold dread run through him, it didn’t seem to matter how far away he was from his Uncle, he still feared him. 

The grey robe that Emmy had left for him was soft and felt warm upon his skin, a spell he presumed but it was still nice. Yet another luxury that seemed completely alien to him. He felt the overwhelming urge to curl into a ball in a corner and cry, he wasn’t sure why either, there was no reason for him to be that upset. 

Determined not to think about it and work himself up into a state, Harry grabbed the Star grass Salve that Emmy had given him and hitched his leg up on the the side of the bath to give himself better access. It felt completely weird doing this to himself, he’d never been one for self pleasure, the few times he had done it he had been filled with so much fear of being caught that he hadn’t really enjoyed it. Now touching himself in this way, even just to rub the salve on made him rather nervous. 

Despite this feeling he managed to coat himself in it fully and it actually made him feel slightly more comfortable and it certainly made walking a lot easier too. Harry didn’t feel as stiff as he had done upon first waking up that was for sure. 

Moving back into the bedroom, Emmy was waiting for him. She had laid out a tray on the bed and Harry couldn’t believe his eyes at what she had brought him. “Pancakes, pumpkin juice and maple syrup,” she informed him proudly, watching Harry rather closely as he climbed back on to the bed, truly astounded at the amount of food. 

“That stack of pancakes is bigger than my head,” Harry exclaimed, looking at the elf as if she were insane. He hadn’t even seen Dudley eat this much food in one sitting and his cousin could eat a lot. 

“Master told me,” Emmy said, trying to think back to the exact words that Baine had used, “make sure he’s eaten a good meal,” she said, concentrating very hard, “that is what Emmy intends to do Mr Harry Potter.” 

“Thank you, Emmy,” Harry said, finding himself rather fond of the elf already. He settled himself on the bed, back against the headboard while Emmy tucked the blankets around him and settled the tray on his lap. Harry felt absolutely ridiculous being treated this way, however the house elf seemed rather content with it, it seemed to make her very happy. Harry could hear her muttering to herself that if Master Mulciber thought Harry Potter important then so did she. 

Needless to say, Harry didn’t even make it through a third of the pancakes before giving up. His stomach was not accustomed to so much food, he was used to going days without eating anything, the amount of food that he had been given for this one meal could have fed him five or six times over. 

It took a while to assure Emmy that he had enjoyed the food, the house elf had looked rather offended when he had declared himself full without clearing his plate. In truth he probably could have eaten a little more, however he was keen to go and explore. It might have felt as if he had a gaping hole in his chest because of the fact that Baine wasn’t here, however it was a feeling that was supposed to lessen, at least that was what Baine had said so he was going to take a look around.

“Emmy,” Harry said looking around, “I don’t suppose there are any clothes I could wear are there?” he asked hopefully, “I’d like to have a look around if that’s alright and I was hoping I could do so dressed.” Harry missed being dressed in actual clothing, it had been two days since he had worn any, Baine really wasn’t a fan of him being dressed. 

“Master Mulciber instructed me to show you where his clothes were when you were ready Mr Harry Potter,” Emmy said, getting a little excited again because once more she could help her Master’s boyfriend. 

“I don’t think his clothes are going to fit me,” Harry said with a frown as he watched the house elf head over to the wardrobe and open both doors. Baine was a lot bigger than he was in more ways than one, there was no way they were going to be able to share clothes. 

“Master Mulciber has a charm on his clothing,” Emmy explained as she ushered Harry over, “there is magic on them to make them fit whoever is wearing them.” 

Edging forward somewhat dubiously, Harry took a closer look. There was a lot of black here, it seemed that Baine didn’t like a lot of variety in his colour choice. “And you’re sure he said that I could wear them?” Harry asked, turning to look at the elf who nodded her head. He might not have been sure but he could smell his dominant all over the fabrics and it surprised Harry just how comforting he found this. Even if Emmy had declared that she was joking and that he couldn’t wear them after all Harry would have done it regardless, just to make himself feel closer to Baine.

It was ridiculous how much comfort Harry found in putting on Baine’s clothing. Though he was a little torn about his underwear, he wasn’t sure what the better option was, wearing his mate’s boxer shorts or going without in his trousers. In the end, Harry opted to wear them, finding it to be a slight turn on to be wearing them. 

True to Emmy’s word, all of the clothing seemed to shrink and shorten in length to the point where it fit him perfectly. Harry had managed to unearth a grey t-shirt and a pair of black jean like trousers from the very back of the wardrobe and he was actually rather embarrassed about how form fitting they both became when he put them on. He was far too used to wearing Dudley’s old hand me downs that were so much bigger. 

He thought that wearing Baine’s clothes, having his scent all around him might lessen the pain in his chest that being separated from him had caused, however it only seemed to make it worse, so looking to distract himself, Harry left the bedroom behind and stepped out into the corridor. He remained in his bare feet, feeling a little silly putting on shoes to explore the house. 

With no idea where he was heading, Harry took a deep breath and just began to walk. The paintings on the walls were all staring at him and whispering as he passed them, though this was something that Harry was used to, he had experienced it enough in his life so it was easy enough to ignore. 

\-------------x

Baine had hoped that the deatheater meeting wouldn’t last long. As it was, Voldemort had been rather keen to hear all news on the disappearance of Harry potter. The Dark Lord was even more interested in hearing Baine’s version of events that night. seeing as Bellatrix and Lucius had been there he had seen no point in lying, so he told the truth, at least up until the point that he had returned as a Nundu to retrieve harry. 

In truth it had destroyed Baine a little to know that Harry was not presumed dead, at least not by Voldemort and from Severus’ account, the side of the light didn’t believe him to be dead either. He could only breathe a sigh of relief that no one seemed to know where he was. 

It was now midday and it was lucky that he had been able to get away when he had. Severus had tried to corner him after the meeting had finished, however Baine had not been in the mood to speak to him. After the argument they had had and their disagreement about Harry, he needed a little space from his so called friend. 

Baine apparated into the entrance hall of his home, looking forward to finding Harry and just holding him. He knew that he had been gone for too long, he could feel it in his very core, the creature inside of him was punishing him for being away from his submissive. Now that they had bonded together their Nundu’s would not want to be apart for too long. 

“Emmy,” Baine called out, shrugging his deatheater robes off his shoulders, knowing that Harry probably wouldn’t appreciate the reminder that he was a follower of the Dark Lord. “Emmy,” he called again when the house elf didn’t appear straight away, “Dixie, Hogie?” he called out to his other two elves, confused as to why no one was answering him. 

“How can Dixie help Master?” the little elf asked, appearing in front of him quite suddenly. Dixie was younger than Emmy, Hogie younger still but Baine cared for them all, he was not one of those purebloods that treated such creatures with disdain, he honestly did not think that they deserved it. 

“Where is Emmy?” Baine asked with confusion as he passed his discarded robes to the slightly trembling elf. Dixie had always had somewhat of a nervous disposition though Baine had never found out why. He never had any worry about handing his elves clothing, he had always told them that they were free to leave if they wanted, he did not want to appear as a prison guard. He did not punish them but nor did he pay them, the three elves remained at his residence out of choice and their own desire to serve, nothing more and nothing less. 

“Emmy is tending to young Mister Harry Potter, as Master Mulciber asked of her,” Dixie informed him, not making any eye contact and instead staring at the floor as if doing anything else would earn her the worst kind of punishment. 

“Do you know where they are?” Baine asked, trying to hide his excitement at the prospect of seeing Harry again. He could have used his senses to locate him, now that they had bonded, Harry would always be easy for him to find, he could literally sniff him out but he today he was tired. Meetings with Voldemort always took it out of him and usually left him in a rather foul mood too, he just wanted to find Harry and hold him close. 

“They are in your study Master Mulciber, Sir,” Dixie said nervously. “Is there anything else that Dixie can help Master with?” she asked and the moment that baine shook his head the nervous little creature vanished out of sight. 

Baine had no idea why Harry would have chosen to settle himself in his study, it was probably the only room that Baine used frequently, though the more that Baine thought about it, the more sense it made. Starting to make his way to where he knew Harry would be, Baine began to undo his shirt so that it billowed out behind him, getting rid of his shoes and socks along the way too, preferring to be barefoot when in his own home. 

The door was closed when he got there, so knocking softly on the door to give Harry some warning that he was coming in, Baine entered. He was rather confused however when he found the room was empty, at least he thought that it was. “Harry?” Baine called out hesitantly, wondering if Dixie had been mistaken in their location or they had simply moved on to another room in the house, at least that was until he heard slight movement coming from the other side of the desk. 

Moving across the room, Baine peared around the desk and found his mate curled up in the tiny space that was customarily used for legs. “Harry…” Baine said in confusion, “what are you doing under there?” 

“What are you doing going back to Voldemort?” Harry said, his voice one of anger, though the words were spoken in barely more than a whisper. “Why did you leave me?” 

Baine recoiled from the harsh words from his mate, not having expected them. He had gone to Voldemort when summoned to keep up pretenses, to find out what was known about what had happened the night that Harry had gone missing. He hadn’t wanted to wake his mate and explain all this to him, he had thought that he was doing the right thing, apparently he had done something wrong. 

“Harry…” he began to say, however Harry didn’t want to hear the excuses. The pain in his chest had worsened and become more intense, though now that Baine was back it was starting to heal, he immediately felt better but that made Harry angry too. 

“No,” he said stubbornly, refusing to come out of his little hidey hole, “you left me, you went back to him and you left me.” 

“I wanted to see where we stood, I wanted to make sure that you were safe,” Baine said, going down on to his knees so that he could see Harry, however making sure that he was kept his distance. He didn’t want to upset his mate any further, not if he could help it. 

“It hurts Baine,” Harry said with tears in his eyes, “it hurts so much when you aren’t here.” As he said this, Harry wrapped his arms tighter around his legs, burying his face into his knees so that Baine wouldn’t see him cry. 

“It hurts me too,” Baine admitted, it had hurt more than words to be away from Harry for so long. Their kind, once they found each other, they were meant to stay together, they were meant to nurture the bond that they had built, treasure it because it was so rare. Baine knew this and yet he had still left and now he realised the grave mistake that he had made, he should have found another way, a way that didn’t involve leaving his young submissive. 

“I thought you might not come back,” Harry muttered into his knees, trying to stop himself from crying but failing miserably. He didn’t want for Baine to see just how much of a mess that he had become in his absence but he really couldn’t help himself, his body betraying him. 

“Nothing would have kept me away from you,” Baine said, abandoning his reserve and going forward, just wanting to be close to his mate again, “not even Voldemort himself could have kept me away from you.” 

“You don’t understand,” Harry said, his voice raised now as his head snapped up to glare at Baine in anger, “I have watched that monstrosity of a man murder people that I care about, his followers have killed and tortured people that I love and you, you who I trust without reason, leave while I’m sleeping to go to him, a man who killed my parents and has tried to kill me every year since I turned eleven.” 

“I know,” Baine said, hating himself for his role in everything that Harry mentioned now, “I was there that night, in the department of mysteries,” he admitted, though he had the decency to sound slightly ashamed of this. It was the only time that he thought he might have actually have come close to seeing Harry before the night he had turned. He had been unwilling to be called the night that Voldemort had returned, unsure if he would be punished or not and now that he was glad of this hesitation. 

“You were there?” Harry asked, looking at Baine in horror. He had not seen Mulciber there, he was sure of that but then he couldn’t have been sure of many of the masked deatheaters beyond Lucius Malfoy and of course Bellatrix Lestrange. “You fought against me, you fought for him. My Godfather died there that night!” 

“I know,” Baine said, bowing his head in shame, “I’m truly sorry for that, I knew Sirius, he was a good man.” He remembered Sirius from school, as a teenager Sirius had been a little intolerable, especially where Severus had been concerned, however they had all done things that they regretted as young adults. 

“Shut up,” Harry shouted, rage taking over at the mention of his Godfather, hating anyone for saying that when it was clear that they didn’t know Sirius very well at all, “you were friends with Snape, there is no way you thought that Sirius was a good man.” Harry felt as if he was going to explode. He had never thought it possible to want to be so close to someone and yet hate them all at the same time. The anger had taken hold of him, his nails lengthening and turning into claws and his eyes blowing yellow.

“Sirius came from a family just like mine,” Baine explained, wanting to calm Harry a little, knowing that if he didn’t then Harry’s Nundu was going to be released, the best way to do that was to hold him, however the mood that the young submissive was in, that wasn’t going to happen so he had to find alternative methods to placate him. “He was a stronger man than I, he resisted the pull of the dark arts, he was a good man, a better man than I, and I always envied him.” 

“You didn’t have to be branded by him,” Harry said feeling utterly hopeless, sobbing desperately now, his heart aching to be close to his mate, however his brain rejected the idea of it, his half transformed hands trembling with the amount of conflicting emotion inside of him, Harry felt as if he wanted to scream in frustration but he contained it, knowing how close he was to the edge, not wanting to transform. If he allowed the anger to build up any further then he knew that that was exactly what was going to happen.

“I had already lost my whole family,” Baine said with a gentle sigh, knowing that he needed to explain himself, watching as Harry took a few deep steadying breaths, “if I didn’t accept the mark then I was going to lose what few friends that I had as well. I was young and admittedly I was scared too, I made choices that I am not proud of but my options were to chose the mark or to be alone in the world and at the time I couldn’t stand the idea of being alone.” 

“There would have been another option, there is always another option,” Harry said adamantly, refusing to believe that Baine had had no other choices in his life. Though Harry could believe that being in this house all on his own, being the creature that he was, it would have been difficult. Harry had spent a morning in these empty hallways with no one but a house elf to keep him company and he was already going a little stir crazy. He had allowed his brain to overthink everything and now he was in such a state that he was close to losing control. 

“What options do we have now other than the light and the dark?” Baine asked gently, knowing that there would be no point in returning the anger that Harry was directing at him, knowing that it would only make the situation worse if he did. Though he did not feel angry in the slightest, he just needed for Harry to understand his reasoning and his choices, even if they had been the wrong choices to make. Baine needed for his mate to understand why he had made the decisions that he had and if they couldn’t move past this then there was going to be a lot of difficulties on the road ahead, especially now that they were bonded. 

Harry didn’t respond, he knew that there weren’t any other options available to them, you either chose to fight on the side of the light or you gave yourself over to evil. Harry wasn’t sure what being on Voldemort’s side would be like but he had been fighting for so long now and he had lost so much, he wasn’t exactly loving the side of the light any more. Though he could only imagine the horrors involved in siding with the Dark Lord, neither option seemed to feel right anymore. 

“Harry, I’m sorry,” Baine said, wanting to give this apology to his lover in the hope that it would calm him down somewhat, he hated to see his submissive in such a state. Harry was unreachable to him now, tucked under the desk in his little hidey hole and it pained Baine in a way that couldn’t be explained. The deep breathing that the teenager had been doing seemed to have been working however and even though his fingernails were still the recognizable claws of the Nundu, his eyes had gone back to the beautiful emerald green that Baine admired so much. 

Harry had tears rolling down his cheeks as he looked at his dominante with his emerald eyes filled with so much pain and anguish, “I was so scared that you wouldn’t come back,” he said, trying to keep his voice even and steady but he was failing miserably. “I hated you for leaving and yet I missed you so much and my heart felt like it was going to explode for wanting you so badly and yet despising the fact that you left. I kept thinking that maybe Voldemort had killed you and that you wouldn’t be coming back at all.” 

“I cannot promise that I will not go again,” Baine said sadly, knowing that if he was going to keep Harry safe then he was going to need to know what was going on outside of Leithope Manor’s walls. “I can promise, however, that I will not go again without first talking to you. I need to know that we are safe, that you are safe and the best way to ensure this is to go into the dragon’s lair.” 

“He could kill you,” Harry said, sounding as utterly hopeless as he felt. His instincts were winning out now and he wanted so desperately to be in the arms of his dominant mate. Harry’s nails finally starting to revert back to their original form, much to Baine’s relief. 

“He could but it is unlikely, I am too strong a follower for him to kill me on a whim,” Baine said, he knew that this was at least a half truth. Voldemort wouldn’t kill him on a whim, however if he ever found out that he was harbouring Harry Potter then he was sure that the Dark Lord could find a fate worse than death for him to endure. 

“Why do I feel like this?” Harry asked desperately, “why do I feel as if I love you when I barely know you, what’s happening to me?” Baine could see his mate’s hands visibly trembling now and when he looked a little closer he could see that Harry’s entire body was shaking. He hated that his mate was feeling this way and wanted to make it better but he didn’t know how to do that until the inheritance had settled down and Harry had fully accepted his creature. 

“It is your creature, it is taking over, it will not like being at odds with me,” Baine explained with a sigh, knowing that he shouldn’t have left, not when Harry was going through such a vital change within himself but he had honestly felt as if he had had no choice. “Nundu are fiercely loyal creatures, most animals fight amongst themselves but it is not in our nature to do so, not unless we are protecting our submissive and cubs from other dominants.” 

“Cubs?” Harry asked a little hesitantly, “but we couldn’t have cubs, could we?” He was genuinely confused at this notion, of course he had had the urge for them, the urge to be pregnant but he had no idea what that meant, he hadn’t thought that it was actually possible. His instincts had been screaming at him to get pregnant, however he had put it down to being submissive, the fact that Baine thought it could actually happen worried Harry a little. 

Baine wasn’t sure how to respond, most witches and wizards knew that some wizards were born with the ability to bare children, he had no idea where to begin to explain it to someone who had not been educated correctly. He wasn’t even sure that he could adequately explain it himself, he knew that it had something to do with the submissive nature that some men had but he didn’t want to confuse Harry further by explaining it badly. 

“Merlin,” Baine said with a frustrated sigh, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “Of course we can, I’m actually hoping that you’re already carrying them.”

Harry just looked at Baine as if he had lost his mind. This new information didn’t scare Harry as much as he thought that it might have done but it was still a lot to wrap his mind around. The thought that he might be pregnant when everyone thought that he was dead didn’t seem to him to be a very good idea. Even if everyone knew him to be alive he would still have a lunatic trying to kill him and now he had this extra worry to contend with. Harry closed his eyes and rested his head on his knees, crying silently.

“Tell me what I can do,” Baine asked, moving so that he was half lying on the floor, trying anything just to be a little closer to his mate, reaching a hand forward and stroking the mass of black hair that was sticking up all over the place. 

The touch was almost instantly soothing to Harry, it didn’t make everything automatically better, nothing could do that, however it did make Harry realise just how much he needed his dominant. It wouldn’t matter what happened or who stood against them, they would always stand together. Harry just couldn’t imagine ever being parted from Baine. 

“Undo the last few days, make it like this never happened please,” Harry begged, looking at Baine desperately. He knew that it was harsh to ask this because it would mean that the two of them would never have found one another but it was all Harry wanted, he didn’t want to lose himself to this creature and that was exactly what was happening. “Tell me that I imagined the last few days,” he added, tears streaming down his cheeks, “please.” 

Baine tried not to look too hurt at this because erasing the last few days would take them away from one another and that was the last thing that he wanted. “I’m sorry,” he said gently, “I can’t do that but even if I could, I don’t think that I would. I need you Harry and I think you need me too.” 

“I don’t want to be a monster,” Harry said through his tears, leaning into the soft touch that Baine was offering him. His instincts were trying to force him out from under the desk and into the arms of his mate, however the small part of him that was human kept him exactly where he was, where he felt secure. 

“Just because that is what the rest of the world calls us doesn’t make us monsters,” Baine said firmly, he wanted to tell Harry that since the night he had murdered his parents that he hadn’t hurt another soul, not in the nineteen years he had been a Nundu. He couldn’t say it though, not without stirring up questions that Baine knew Harry was not ready to hear the answers to. 

“What are we going to do?” Harry asked, turning to look at Baine, desperate for answers, though he didn’t even know what the questions were. 

“First I think you are going to come out from under the desk,” Baine said with a small smile, “then you are going to tell me why you ended up under there while I take care of you.”

“Fine but I’m not telling you why and I want a kiss,” Harry said, not willing to give up all of his secrets just get. Baine frowned but when he saw the determination on Harry’s face he just rolled his eyes in exasperation. 

“Alright, my stubborn little mate,” Baine returned with a smile, shuffling back so to allow Harry some room so that he could come out, “but I will learn all of your secret eventually,” he added as he offered out a hand to Harry to help him. 

The teenager took his mate’s hand and allowed the dominant to help him out from beneath the desk. The second that he could, Baine went forward and while they were still both on their knees, he wrapped his arms around Harry and simply held him close. He didn’t ever want to let go of his young mate, it felt so amazingly good to have him back in his arms again. 

“I said a kiss,” Harry said with a teasing huff, “I didn’t ask to be cuddled to death,” he added with a small laugh as Baine released him, however keeping him close. The dominant male, reaching up with both hands and using his thumbs to wipe away the tear tracks, not wanting to see the evidence of how upset his mate had been. 

“So beautiful,” Baine said with a low whisper, gazing into the stunningly green eyes, unable to get enough of them. In the desperation to find Harry, Baine had completely failed to notice the fact that Harry was wearing his clothing, however now that he did he could feel his cock twitching with excitement, his breathing getting heavier. “You’re wearing my clothes…” he said, his tone deep and heavy with arousal. 

Harry instantly picked up on the change of tone and bit his lip, feeling the atmosphere shift between them, feeling himself starting to grow hard. “Umm, yeah,” he responded slightly nervously, “I’m wearing your underwear too,” he added hesitantly, not wanting for Baine to get angry at him, though it had a completely different reaction. 

Baine groaned with arousal, one hand skimming down, over Harry’s body, landing on his hip and pulling the teenager against him, both of them able to feel their semi-hard erections. “You want me to kiss you?” Baine asked and anxiously Harry nodded his head. “If I start I won’t be able to stop,” the older man warned, “I need you too much.” 

Harry nodded his head apprehensively in understanding, seemingly having lost the ability to form words as he could feel Baine’s large erection pressing against him. Harry wasn’t sure that he would be able to full on have sex with his mate again, even with the salve that Emmy had given him this morning he was still very sore, but it had at least helped to ease the discomfort. 

“Be gentle,” Harry said as he felt Baine’s breath ghost against his lips, the dominant managed to nod his head briefly before their lips were pressed together and they were lost to one another. Baine’s shirt, which he had undone on his way to find his mate, was the first item of clothing to go, followed quickly by Harry’s grey t-shirt, the two of them breaking the kiss only momentarily to remove it. 

Wrapping his arms around his younger mate, Baine lifted Harry up, off the floor and placed him on top of his desk, lying him on his back while still ravishing him. Harry’s hands were wandering across the muscled body of his lover as Baine worked on stripping his submissive of the remainder of his clothing. Trousers and underwear being quickly discarded. 

Everything was happening so quickly, before Harry really knew what had happened he was feeling well lubed fingers pressing at his entrance and he knew that Emmy had been the one responsible for supplying them with the lube so quickly and efficiently. The younger man almost screamed as the two fingers pushed inside of him together, “Fuck, Baine,” he gasped out as the older man began scissoring him in preparation, Harry had to grip at the table as he was assaulted with both pain and pleasure. 

Baine it seemed had very little patience and was unable to hold himself back, even at Harry’s request to be gentle, he needed his submissive too much for that, there would be plenty of time to be gentle later, they had the rest of their lives for that. With one hand occupied with stretching out his lover, Baine used his other to take Harry’s shaft, stroking in time with his fingers. Harry groaned, arching his back as Baine’s fingers pushed deeper, “please,” he pleaded desperately.

Adding a third finger caused Harry to really scream, the pressure making him throw his head back against the wood of the table with a thud, Baine’s fingers grazing over the sensitive bundle of nerves inside of him and suddenly the younger man exploded, come splattering over his chest, his orgasm having hit him unexpectedly hard. “All mine,” Baine growled out, appreciating the sight before him as he raised one hand to his lips and licking the come from them, “you are mine!” 

Taking the opportunity while it was offered, Baine covered his erection in lube, wanting to prove that he meant what he said. Grabbing hold of Harry’s hips and pulling him right to the edge of the desk, lifting the teenager’s legs up and over his shoulders, positioning himself at his mate’s entrance and placing soft kisses to Harry’s calves in warning of what was going to happen next. He took advantage of the orgasmic high that Harry was riding and pushed himself inside of his mate, leaning over the teenager and bracing himself on the edge of the desk. 

He had heard his lover’s request to go slow and this was all he could do to control himself. Baine rocked his hips in a slow motion, looking for the sweet spot inside of his submissive as he buried himself as deep as he could go. “You’re so beautiful,” he said, gazing down into Harry’s eyes, rolling his hips inside of the younger man. 

“I love you,” Harry whispered gently, tears rolling down his cheeks as he met Baine’s eyes, reaching up to touch him everywhere and anywhere that he could reach, needing for his dominant to know that despite everything this was how he felt. 

He had wanted to take it all back, to erase the last few days and in a way he still wanted that, however he did love Baine, he was so sure of that. Without this man he wouldn’t have survived his transformation from boy wizard into some magical, human, Nundu hybrid. 

“There are no words for how much I love you,” Baine returned, pulling back though never removing himself from inside of his mate, lowered Harry’s legs so that they were around his waist before picking Harry up and kissing him for all he was worth. Baine turned them around so that he was now sat on the desk, Harry in his lap, allowing him to thrust into his young submissive, nearing his climax. “You are everything that I could have hoped for,” he whispered, holding Harry close to him as he rocked inside of him, the teenager struggling to catch his breath as the intensity inside of him built up, ready to explode once more, “everything I never thought I would have.” 

Usually not one to be a romantic sap, Baine wasn’t sure where that had come from. So emotionally stunned from the fact he had actually found himself a submissive of his own kind he had allowed himself to show his emotions that were usually very well hidden. Capturing his mate’s lips in a searing kiss, Baine picked up the pace a little, chasing his own orgasm. 

He felt Harry dig his nails into his back as he thrust up, pushing himself deeper into his mate, “I’m so close,” Harry gasped out, rocking his hips in time with the older man’s thrusts. One more brush over the teenager’s prostate was all that it took and Harry came for the second time, clenching around Baine. This was all it took for the dominant, who cried out his lovers name as he came, spilling his seed into his lover. 

“Did I hurt you?” Baine asked with concern once he had regained himself a few moments later, Harry was limp in his arms, breathing heavily, his eyes closed as he rested his head against the older man’s shoulder. He knew that they had been having sex a lot recently and he was a little concerned that it would be all too much for the teenager who had been so pure and innocent before his transformation had occurred. 

“Nothing I didn’t enjoy,” Harry muttered sleepily, groaning as Baine pulled out of him. The older man ensured that he kept a firm hold on his lover, meaning to take him upstairs and put him in the bath to soothe his aching muscles. He had meant it when he said that he was going to take care of him. There was nothing that he wanted to do more right now.

“Emmy,” Baine called softly and almost at once the little house elf appeared in front of them, “Please go and run Harry a bath,” he instructed and at once the house elf bowed and vanished to do as she was told. 

“I like her,” Harry muttered into Baine’s chest as he was carried through the house, once again completely naked. Baine really did seem to have something against them being dressed. 

“Emmy?” Baine questioned and Harry nodded his head half heartedly, “she has been in my family since I was a small child,” he explained as they walked the hallways, as usual followed by curious portraits, all wanting to take a look at what was going on. Nothing exciting had happened in this house for years, the addition of an attractive young man was certainly something to talk about. 

“She’s nice,” Harry said quietly, “over enthusiastic, but nice,” he added, his eyes drifting closed. He hadn’t been that tired before their impromptu romp in the study but now he was exhausted, though he did rather like the sound of having a bath, especially if it involved Baine as well. 

“Ah, well, you cannot fault her for that,” Baine said with amusement as he climbed the stairs. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask the younger man, why he was so small, why he had reacted the way he had when Severus had startled them awake, however Harry was determined to keep his secrets for the moment and Baine couldn’t really blame him for that. They barely knew each other and secrets such as that were going to take time to reveal, just like the secrets that Baine had and was keeping from Harry. 

“Did you mean what you said,” Harry asked, keeping his eyes closed, not daring to looked at Baine as he asked this question. In the heat of the moment Harry had said just how he felt and he was curious if Baine had meant what he had in return. They had spent a wonderful two days together but they had a long way to go even with their bond being as strong as it was already. 

“Every word,” Baine said with complete seriousness. He never wanted Harry to doubt how he felt about him. Baine felt like the luckiest man alive to have found Harry, whatever they had between them it was so much stronger than love, it was an unbreakable creature bond that would mean that they were forever bonded together. 

Reaching the bedroom, Baine headed straight through to their bathroom where Emmy had done as she was told, the room was filled with the scent of sweet perfumes, the bath full of deep water, an impressive froth of bubbles on top. Baine placed Harry down on to his feet, however remaining close and helping him step into the bath. 

Stepping into the beautifully hot water, Harry hissed, he was fine to tell a little white lie that Baine hadn’t hurt him but as they sunk into the water together, Harry couldn’t deny how badly it stung. Baine was glaring at Harry rather impressively as he held the teenager in his arms, silently demanding an explanation. 

“I thought you said I didn’t hurt you,” Baine said with annoyance, sounding a little hurt when Harry didn’t respond, the teenager unable to look his lover in the eye. Harry did feel a little guilty about the fact that he had bent the truth a little but he just hadn’t want for Baine to feel bad. 

“I didn’t actually say that you didn’t,” Harry said a little guiltily, “I just said that it was nothing I didn’t enjoy,” he added quietly, still not looking at his mate. Despite the slight pain and extreme discomfort, Harry would not bring himself to regret what they had done. After their argument and Baine being away for the morning, it was what they had needed to reconnect to one another.

“You will not lie to me again,” Baine said with a low, territorial growl, “I am here to take care of you, not to hurt you.” He was genuinely a little angry that Harry had not told him the entire truth, he didn’t want for Harry to ever lie to him. 

“The salve to ease the pain that Emmy gave me to use this morning is over there,” Harry said, pointing to the counter where the sinks were located and true enough, when Baine glanced over he could see the silver star shaped container. 

“Promise me,” Baine said, refocusing himself on Harry, “if you don’t want to tell me something then be honest and say that, just never lie to me.” Harry could hear the seriousness in his lovers tone and nodded his head as he looked into the deep chocolate brown eyes. 

“I promise,” Harry added as Baine went to kiss him, their lips meeting as the water and the bubbles swirled around them. Harry fe lt entirely at ease now, the feeling completely at odds with how he had felt less than an hour ago. “As long as you promise never to leave me, I couldn’t stand it if you left me.”

“I am never going to leave you,” Baine promised, smiling at his lover, knowing that this was possibly the easiest promise that he had ever made because there was no force on this earth that would make him leave Harry now that he had found him. “Now,” he said, reaching for the wash cloth, “let’s clean you up and get that salve on you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, please don't forget to leave a comment for me so I can know just how much you enjoyed (or hated) it. Also, thank you again for your continued support and love of this story, it means a great deal to me.


	6. Shock Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry overhears a rather shocking conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had so many issues with this chapter. As a lot of you know I had this chapter all written and ready to post but all trace of it vanished from my computer. It has taken a lot to rewrite it from scratch which is why it has taken so long to update. I do apologise for that and please do enjoy this chapter.

Sitting beneath the rowan tree in the grounds of Leithope Manor, Harry was trying to focus on one of the books that he had found in Baine’s library but he was struggling. It was the first of September and he knew that he should have been at King's Cross station with his friends, boarding the Hogwarts Express ready to go back for his sixth year of school. It didn’t feel right that he wasn’t there but he knew that he didn’t belong there anymore. 

Baine was somewhere that wasn’t here, leaving him alone again. The older man had yet again been sent away on another mission for Voldemort, something that bothered Harry a lot. Baine was gone a lot recently, sometimes not returning until the early hours of the morning, and Harry had no idea why. He was clueless to anything that was going on outside the wards of the Manor, Baine had made sure of that. 

Though he wasn’t exactly unhappy there; he certainly wasn’t a prisoner, despite how confined and cut off he felt from the world. There were plenty of books for him to read in the library and the warded grounds were extensive, as was the inside of the Manor, meaning that he was never bored. However, with only Emmy for company a lot of the time he was rather lonely. 

There were two other house elves floating around but Harry didn’t see them often, they tended to keep to themselves and just get on with their work when he did spot them. Today Emmy had brought him a blanket, pumpkin juice and croissants so that he could sit and read outside while having his breakfast. 

That was one of the things that Baine had insisted upon, the three house elves were to ensure that Harry had three meals a day. Baine might not have known what his submissive was hiding from him or why he found comfort in small, confined spaces, as Harry was yet to open up to him, but he could see with his own two eyes that the submissive needed to eat more.

Baine had left in the early hours of the morning, not having made the same mistake as last time, waking Harry up and telling him that he was going, ensuring that he got a response from his sleepy submissive before leaving. Of course, Harry appreciated this, it was less of a shock when he awoke later on in the morning to an empty bed. 

He didn’t know where his dominant had gone, he had been too tired to ask, all that he knew was that Voldemort had summoned him; Baine would probably have refused to tell him anything else about it anyway, wanting to protect him. Slamming his book shut, Harry sighed, he couldn’t focus on anything right now, he just wanted for Baine to be home. 

\---------x

Baine really wished that he was back at his home with Harry. He had had to leave in the early hours of the morning when the dark mark burnt on his forearm, telling him that his Lord demanded his presence. As a result of that he was now stood on the Hogwarts express, watching as the students boarded the train. 

He had easily picked out the two people that Harry had told him the most about, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his mate’s two best friends and their respective families. He didn’t say anything but he kept a close eye on them; he knew how much they meant to Harry and with all of the other deatheaters floating about both in the crowd on the platform and on the train itself, he didn’t want them to get hurt. 

He didn’t care about them himself but Harry did and he wouldn’t let his mate feel the pain of their loss, not after he had already lost so much. There were others that he recognised from things that Harry had told him, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and of course the rest of the Weasley clan, they were all people that his mate had a connection to and cared about deeply. 

There were other deatheaters already at the school, Severus having been forced into the position of headteacher. Now that Dumbledore was dead and Harry missing there was nothing stopping Voldemort from taking everything he wanted and the first thing to fall had been the famous wizarding school. Baine had no idea why so many were continuing to send their young there when it was under the control of the Dark Lord; though he supposed that might be because it had been done quietly, in the middle of the night and so far nothing had been reported in the wizarding papers. Though this was mainly because Voldemort had taken control of them too. 

He was getting some rather strange looks from the older students as they boarded the train and went to find a compartment to claim as their own. The younger students didn’t seem to notice him at all, most of them too excited about going for their first and second years at the school. 

He looked back over to the Weasleys and their friends, who clearly knew that something wasn’t right; he could tell by the worried looks on their faces. None of those who Harry cared for were making any attempt at getting on to the train, almost as if they were thinking of leaving. It was then that Baine knew what he had to do and he knew that Harry would thank him for it later too. Stepping off the train, Baine started to casually make his way towards them. 

\--------------------x 

“There are deatheaters everywhere,” Seamus said in a hushed whisper, eyes darting about the platform to make sure that there was no one listening in to what they were saying. Only parents were lingering on platform 9 3/4 now, most of the students having already boarded the train as there was only ten minutes left until it departed. 

“Where else can we go?” Neville asked, feeling rather nervous. He didn’t like all of the deatheaters being here, it made him rather on edge that Bellatrix Lestrange might be lurking around a corner. He hated the woman for what she had done to his parents and he wanted revenge but he knew that he was no match for her. 

“It isn’t safe,” Seamus argued, thinking that Hogwarts was not going to be the most friendly of places for them this year, especially not for the likes of Hermione. There was no telling how bad it had become at Hogwarts; without Dumbledore to stop him, Voldemort could have taken over the entire school. 

“Where is? If they’ve taken the school…” Dean asked, looking around his friends; the adults were stood a little way apart from the others having their own hushed conversation about what should be done. Molly, Remus, Arthur and Tonks had brought the children to the train station but were now second guessing this and were unsure if they should allow them to go. 

“We don’t know that they have,” Ginny said, wishing that what she said could be true but even the sound of her own voice told them that she wasn’t convinced. She knew that it was unlikely that Hogwarts was going to be anything like they remembered it from previous years. 

“Look around, Ginny, these people are deatheaters, low level but still,” Ron said in a hushed whisper. He recognised a few of them from the wanted posters from the year before when they had all escaped from Azkaban. All of them stopped talking as Molly headed over towards the group looking rather stern and even a little scared. 

“I don’t want any of you going back to school this year, it’s too dangerous,” Molly said looking sullen as she announced this rather quietly to the group of fifteen and sixteen year olds, all of whom looked rather unhappy with this decision. 

“You think that hiding away is going to be any better?” Hermione asked, looking Molly directly in the eye. Out of all of them, this decision was going to affect her the most. She was the muggleborn and the deatheaters would target her because of her lack of blood purity. She knew that it wouldn’t be safe for her at Hogwarts but she still wanted to go and she wanted for Molly to realise that it was her choice. 

“Hermione’s right, we can’t hide at the Burrow all year,” Ron said with a sigh. He didn’t like her going any more than his mother did but he wanted to go and he couldn’t very well ask Hermione to stay behind; for one thing, they would need her. “We’ll look out for each other and we might be some use at the school,” Ron tried to reason when his mother went to protest. 

“No,” Molly said with finality, refusing to bend to the whims of her teenage children and those that she considered part of her family, “I don’t want you at the school, it’s far too dangerous,” she said, all of them too wrapped up in their hushed bickering match to realise that they were no longer on their own. 

“No more dangerous than brewing polyjuice potion in an abandoned girls’ bathroom at the age of twelve,” a strange voice said over them, making eye contact first with Ron and then with Hermione. “Perhaps it’s time you boarded the train, it’ll be leaving in the next few minutes.” 

Molly turned to look at the intruder, ready for a fight, even reaching for her wand, however, Ron was quick to react, forcing his mother’s hand down while Hermione looked at the tall, imposing deatheater rather curiously. “What did you say?” she asked, staring at his blank face with interest. 

“It’s time to board the train, not unless you have another flying car parked around here instead,” he said with a curt nod before turning on his heel and walking away. The Weasley’s and the rest of the group gathered around them gaping at the departing deatheater dumbfounded. 

“What do you think that means?” Luna asked curiously; she didn’t have much of a clue as to what had happened, all she knew was that she didn’t want to go back to Hogwarts if the others decided that they wouldn’t be going. 

“It could be one of two things,” Hermione said with a rather worried tone, “either he has Harry and he’s torturing information out of him and mocking us with that or Harry is there of his own accord and told him these things willingly.” 

“Either way,” Ron said with certainty, “it means Harry’s alive.” He hadn’t believed that his best friend was dead, but he hadn’t been able to keep himself from worrying; he was, however, also sure that Harry wouldn’t have agreed to go anywhere with a death eater, and that meant they would have to do something.

“And it means we’re going back to Hogwarts,” Ginny said firmly, glaring at her mother and daring her to argue this point. “If Harry is alive then there is something to fight for.” She, like Ron, wasn’t about to leave Harry in the hands of some death eater, and this man was the only lead they had at the moment; she wasn’t about to let that chance slip through her fingers. 

“No,” Molly insisted, reaching out and grabbing hold of Ginny’s arm when her daughter went to head for the train. “We are going home this instant,” she told them firmly, “all of us.” She didn’t care who that man had been, she knew what Harry had done and even if he was alive, she didn’t want her children chasing after him, not after what he had done to his muggle family and to Dumbledore. 

“Dad, we need to go,” Ron said turning to his father for support, hoping that he could make the man see their side of things. “This might be our best chance to find Harry,” he added, looking to Remus imploringly. 

Remus looked unsure. He didn’t want for these children to go back to school if it meant that they were going to be in a war zone; however, they themselves had all been children the first time around when the war had raged before. He was loath to see it happen again but they were all desperate to fight and this was Harry that they were talking about, their friend, and Remus was inclined to agree with Ron at this point. 

“I am inclined to allow them to make their own choice in this matter,” Remus said with a sigh, the seconds were ticking down and the decision had to be made. Molly was still gripping her only daughter tightly by the arm and did not look to be relenting. 

“We have no right to tell Hermione, Luna, Dean, Seamus or Neville whether they can go or not,” Arthur pointed out reluctantly, stepping up next to his wife and wrapping his arm around her middle. “And in these times they should stay together,” he added softly, giving his youngest two children a sad, wry smile.

“We need to go,” Seamus said, jumping on to the train, Dean following him as he always did, the two of them inseparable. Luna too boarded the train with Neville as the whistle went, Ron just behind them with Hermione. Ginny wrenched her arm out of her mother's grip, giving her a rather apologetic look. 

“I’m sorry, Mum,” she said as she followed after her friends, jumping on to the train, knowing that she was doing the right thing. “I love you,” she called back, glancing back over to where her parents stood, Molly crying as she was comforted by her husband. 

\-------------x

“That’s what he said,” Arthur told those around him. They had seen the children off only an hour ago and it had taken this long to gather together as many of the Order of the Phoenix as they possibly could. There weren’t many of them that could gather together with such short notice but the kitchen at the Burrow was still uncomfortably overflowing with people as Arthur addressed them. 

“Do we really believe that this man has Harry?” Molly asked the room at large. They had no reason to trust that what this Deatheater had said to be the truth, but he had known things that were personal to them as a family, experiences that he shouldn’t have known about. 

“To know what he did, he must have,” Remus said with a sigh. He was beyond tired. The last full moon had worn him out and he still hadn’t yet recovered. This news about Harry wasn’t helping very much either. He was concerned for the teenager; all the talk of Harry being a Horcrux and a creature, it was almost too much for him to cope with. 

“But was it told under duress or willingly?” Tonks asked, coming to stand beside Remus, placing a hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him. She knew how hard this was on him; he had lost all of his childhood friends and now the son of one of them was missing after the darkest of creature inheritances, it was enough to destroy any man. 

“What use would that information be to anyone?” Moody barked out impatiently. “We cannot trust its source,” he stated plainly. He was not in the mood to be messing around, and he wanted to know who this man was so that they could attempt to track down their fallen hero. 

“Do we know who this man was?” Kingsley asked from the depths of the room, having been listening and mulling things over as the others bickered amongst themselves. He was not sure of the right course of action to take at this point other than to safely retrieve Harry and contain him as best as possible until they could determine how much of a threat he was. 

“Mulciber,” Tonks said at once, “I recognized him from the wanted posters; he was one of the Deatheaters that escaped from Azkaban.” 

“If I remember correctly he was rather close friends with Severus while they were at school. Perhaps he will be able to help?" Remus suggested. He remembered the two of them being as thick as thieves, always whispering over the dark arts books in the library and brewing potions together. 

“Will Severus still help us?” Tonks asked dubiously. “Albus trusted him but can we still?” she asked, frowning a little, unsure if the potions master was to be trusted at all. The man had not hesitated to step into the Headmaster’s position at Hogwarts when it had been offered to him, and the Order were lucky that most of the other teachers were still loyal to them. 

Minerva had known that they stood no chance and had allowed for the school to be over run but she had refused to leave, remaining in her teaching post, and so far had not been harmed, nor had the other staff. It was the only thing the Order could cling to that told them Severus was still on their side. 

“We should ask,” Arthur said with a sigh. Regardless of what they didn’t know, this was the best shot they had at finding out if Mulciber knew anything about where Harry was. However, that still left the puzzle of how to contact Severus without giving away his position as a spy. 

“We still need to decide how we handle Potter if we do find him,” Moody barked out. There had been so much debate over this in the past month and no one could agree on anything but he was well in favour of putting the boy into Azkaban. It was the only place that was likely to hold such a beast. 

They all knew that they wouldn’t be able to kill him. The Nundu were too strong, too powerful for that but they could contain him, especially if Harry came willingly. They all had to believe that Harry wouldn’t hurt them, regardless of what he had done to Dumbledore, they all held some hope that their hero was still the boy-who-lived and their saviour. 

“The fact remains that he might not want to return to us,” Kingsley said solemnly; he had been putting a lot of thought into the situation recently and he couldn’t understand how, as a Nundu, Harry had not escaped; the boy was certainly powerful enough to. Harry might not have his wand but he was strong, he was a creature that had a fair few abilities and the only reason Kingsley could think of to explain why Harry hadn’t escaped, was that the teenager didn’t know what he was capable of. 

“Why would he not want to return to us?” Remus challenged. He could not believe that Harry wouldn’t want to be rescued, that he wouldn’t want to come home to them. He had been fighting valiantly against Alastor, who wanted to lock Harry away, thinking that that was just too drastic a course of action for dealing with a sixteen year old. 

“Regardless of age, Harry is a powerful wizard and a powerful dark creature,” Kingsley explained to the gathered group, “combined with what Mulciber told us I am drawing the conclusion that Harry might not be being held against his will.” 

“You cannot think that he has changed his allegiance!” Remus spat out, getting to his feet rather abruptly and challenging Kingsley on what he had just said. 

“Remus,” Kingsley said with a sigh, “what do you remember of your first transformations into your wolf form?” 

“Nothing,” Remus snapped, feeling Tonks at his side, silently pleading with him to calm down. She knew just how much Harry meant to him but she didn’t want to see anyone else getting hurt, knowing that Remus would never forgive himself if he lashed out accidently. 

“It might be the case that Harry is in the same position,” Kingsley said. “Though that doesn’t excuse what he has done, which he will still have to answer for. However, it isn’t something that he has been able to control and he probably has no recollection of it. He is probably scared and clueless; he may not even know he’s a creature.” 

“If he thought he was still human he would have come back on his own,” Moody argued. He had a very clear train of thought about the course of action he believed should be taken when it came to the Potter boy. 

“Stop blaming him for things he cannot control,” Remus shouted at Alastor, losing his temper, wanting to lash out at the Auror, to defend his cub from these distrusting people. Harry was not evil, he would never be evil, no matter what card had been dealt to him in his life. 

“If Harry did believe that he was still human then it would be easier to hold him against his will,” Tonks put in, wanting for everyone to calm down. 

“The truth is we don’t know what is going on,” Molly said, like Tonks, needing for everyone to just calm down for a moment and stop shouting at one another. They were at war, their two strongest team players had been taken out, they were all that was left and they were bickering amongst themselves. It simply would not do. 

“Molly is right,” Arthur said, looking pointedly at the gathered Order members, “we need to gather together as much strength as we can, as many wands as we can manage and make sure that when it comes to it we can match them in a fight. Whatever side Harry comes down on, we need to be ready.” 

“Yes,” Moody growled out in frustration, “now we know he is alive we shall redouble the efforts to find him. He is out there somewhere and we will retrieve him,” he said, glowering at Remus, believing that he was far too emotionally invested in the situation. 

Remus met the Auror’s look with a glare of his own; he wished there was a way he could find Harry himself and get him somewhere safe, that not even the Order could find him, but he knew they would have to work together. “Yes,” he agreed with a curt nod, “we’ll bring him home.”

\----------x 

Hermione was sat on the Hogwarts express looking wistfully out of the window. They were crossing the borders between England and Scotland and she knew that somewhere out there, in the scarcely populated moors, Harry was surviving. None of the others knew this though; they were muttering amongst themselves, talking about what the deatheater could have meant and his intentions behind what he had said to them. 

She had been working tirelessly on the spell to track Harry using the trace but without it activating but she had only been able to get a very vague location because there was something blocking it; Hermione’s best guess would be powerful wards of some description. She had, however, made a deliberate choice not to inform the others of her progress, knowing that if any of them knew, especially Ron, then they would have run off half-cocked, with no plan of action, in a futile attempt to find Harry. 

“Hermione!” Ron practically shouted, having attempted to get his friend’s attention several times before resorting to raising his voice in frustration. 

“Sorry,” Hermione said, shaking herself out of her day dream, turning to focus on the others, who were all looking at each other in concern. “I was just thinking about Harry,” she admitted to them. 

“Did you manage to get that spell to work?” Ginny asked; she was the only one that knew Hermione had come close as she had been helping with some of the reading. They hadn’t been able to find anything overly helpful, most of the information about Nundu referred to their animal state only and not a single book had mentioned anything about human Nundu or linked them to creature inheritance. 

“In a way,” Hermione said with a sigh, realising that it was time to tell them. It wasn’t as if Ron could go running off in search of Harry, not now they were on their way to Hogwarts. 

“Did you find him?” Seamus asked; he was sat beside Dean and holding his hand. The two of them had been together for about a year now but they weren’t very obvious about it, keeping it very low key so that very few people knew about it, only their friends. 

“I found the general area,” Hermione explained with a sigh, “I can’t do any better because there is something blocking the tracing spell. I would guess there are wards but it is only a guess.” 

“Is there anything we can do?” Neville asked, wondering if there might be a way around the wards or if they could use the knowledge that it was Mulciber that had him captive somewhere to their advantage. 

“About the wards? Probably not,” Hermione admitted with a wry smile, but she got a thoughtful expression on her face a moment later.

“But…” Ron prompted, recognising the look on Hermione’s face. They needed something, anything, because at the moment he had no idea how they were going to get Harry back. 

“Well,” Hermione said after a moment, “I am just wondering if we can try and find out known locations of family homes,” she said pensively. She knew it was a long shot, but it was all they had.

“Like the Mulciber family home,” Luna added with an approving nod.

“We can certainly try,” Dean said, with a hopeful smile “it would at least be a place to start,” he added giving Seamus’ hand a small squeeze. Now that they all knew that Harry was alive they were going to do whatever it took to find him and bring him home. 

Thanks to Fred and George’s extendable ears, they all knew that there was a lot of debate about what to do with Harry when he was found but without even having to discuss it they all agreed that their friend would never hurt anyone unless he had to, Harry was too much of a kind soul. They didn’t care how dangerous the Order were saying Harry was, they were going to fight any decision to incarcerate him, that was for sure; but first things first, they had to find him. 

The group of them seemed to lose themselves in their own thoughts of Harry, of where he was, and how they were going to help him, and Hermione went back to gazing out the window, wishing they knew more, but mostly just hoping Harry was somewhere safe.

\----------x

Severus watched from the Astronomy tower as the students began to trundle into the school on the thestral drawn coaches, knowing that it wasn’t going to be an easy year for any of them. He easily managed to spot Baine, who had taken up a position at the school gates having travelled up on the Hogwarts express as he had been told to do by the Dark Lord. 

He knew that he would have to talk to his old friend. It had been a month since he had returned to his home in Cokesworth and found Baine fucking Harry Potter into the mattress of his guest bedroom. They had only seen each other at Deatheater meetings since then, which had been frequent, however, they had barely spoken and Severus was looking to change this. 

As soon as the students were settled at the feast he was going to travel to Leithope Manor to have a few words with his friend because what was happening now, allowing Voldemort free reign over the Wizarding world to do as he pleased, could not continue. The only way they had any hope of righting the world, putting it back the way it should be, was if Harry was on their side, fighting for it to be right again. 

Lily had died trying to protect the world and her son from Voldemort, Severus wasn’t about to allow for that sacrifice to be in vain. He might not have liked the teenager but he was determined that he would make the effort to talk to the boy and make him see sense. First, however, he needed to make Baine realise that things could not continue the way they were. 

\--------------------x 

Harry had spent the majority of the day outside, mainly under his Rowan tree with a book, Emmy bringing him food and drinks to make sure that he remained fed and hydrated. She wasn’t about to fail her master and not care for the young man and in truth the house elf had become rather fond of Harry. 

Only once the sun had dipped below the tops of the trees and the temperature had suddenly dropped dramatically did Harry finally venture inside. Although he hadn’t been doing much, he was exhausted, the heat of the day having wiped him out. It was a strange feeling because the warmer months never used to have this affect on him, not even when he had had a list of chores as long as his arm to complete before the end of the day. 

Declining dinner, not feeling very hungry and in fact feeling a little nauseous, Harry retreated to one of the smaller sitting rooms, rather liking the large squishy corner sofa in there. Also, Baine would know where to find him if he were here because this is where he had taken to going in the evenings when it became too cold to be outside. That was if Baine came home tonight; there had been a number of occasions when he had been gone for two days and it had scared the daylights out of Harry, who had honestly thought that something bad had happened.

Harry had gone into a light doze on the sofa when Baine found him. He had hated being away for so long. As it was he should have gone back to Voldemort and reported on what had happened throughout the day but in truth there was nothing to say and he had just wanted to return to Harry and make sure that his young mate was alright.

His heart melted at the sight of his mate sleeping so peacefully, quickly shedding his robes and climbing on to the large sofa to join the teenager, who groaned lightly in his sleep as Baine curled himself around him. He was never going to tire of being so close to his mate. It didn’t take long for the disturbance to rouse Harry from sleep and the teenager forced his eyes open to look up at his older lover; blinking slowly, Harry tried to clear his mind of sleep, struggling to process the fact that Baine was finally back.

“Hey,” Harry said with a sleepy yawn, snuggling into his mate’s broad chest, taking a deep breath and inhaling the scent of his dominant mate. Harry had been a little annoyed that Baine had been gone for so long but all that annoyance evaporated the moment he was back in the older man’s arms.

“Hi,” Baine returned with a soft smile, running his fingers through the messy black hair of his submissive, who he loved so much. “What did you do today?” he asked, wondering what his mate had been up to while he had been following Voldemort’s orders. 

“I read,” Harry said with a sigh, sitting up a little and turning to look at Baine, knowing that if he didn’t distance himself a little then they were both going to end up naked and fornicating. Harry wasn’t against this idea, however he wasn’t exactly pleased with how much time that his mate was spending away from him lately and wasn’t much in the mood for sex. “What were you doing?” 

“I was asked to monitor the students on the Hogwarts express,” Baine said with a sigh, not wanting to lie to Harry any more than was strictly necessary. 

“Who took over as headmaster?” Harry asked softly. He had still not entirely come to terms with the fact that Dumbledore was dead. It seemed odd to him that the great man was no more. 

“Severus,” Baine responded with a sigh, knowing that there was little point in lying to his mate about this. He wanted to keep a lot of the outside world away from Harry, shield him from it as much as possible to minimise the guilt that he felt about abandoning the wizarding world to their fate. 

“Oh,” Harry said sadly. He didn’t think that Severus would have been the first choice to replace Dumbledore as headmaster, he would have thought that Professor McGonagall would have been the logical choice, especially considering she was deputy headmistress. It was a thought that nagged a little at the back of his mind, however it was becoming increasingly more difficult to concentrate on it as Baine began to kiss and nibble affectionately at Harry’s neck. 

“You are wearing too many clothes,” Baine said, tugging lightly at the t-shirt that Harry was wearing. He much preferred it when the two of them were naked; he did so enjoy looking at his mate with no clothes on, it reminded him just how lucky he was to have such an attractive mate. 

Harry couldn’t help but giggle a little in response. For a change they were both fully clothed and suddenly Harry didn’t want to be any longer. He could feel his mate growing hard from where they were cuddled so close together and all the questions that Harry had had about where his mate had been all day and about what was happening in the outside world went out of his head as Baine started to kiss him while slowly undressing him. 

\------------x

Severus had waited all day for a chance to speak to Baine and he hadn’t been able to catch him before his friend had left Hogwarts. Now that the welcoming feast was over and all the students had retired to their dormitories for the night, he took the opportunity and used the floo network to travel to Baine’s home. 

Things were getting out of control; Voldemort was getting a stronger hold on the world and that wasn’t something that was going to benefit anyone other than Voldemort himself and those most loyal to him. Severus needed to put an end to this but he needed Harry to do that. Harry was the only one that could stop the Dark Lord now and he was held up in Leithope Manor, hiding from the world. 

Stepping out of the fire, Severus had to rather hurriedly avert his eyes as Baine and Harry were curled up on the sofa, both of them dozing lightly and completely naked. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what it was that they had been doing seeing as Baine was still buried deep inside the teenager and it only made Severus angier. The wizarding world was falling to shit and here these two were, fucking each other into unconsciousness, oblivious to what was going on outside of these walls. 

Before the potions master could make any attempt at waking them, Baine opened his eyes, alert to the danger around them. He glared rather hatefully at his friend and carefully, so as not to wake Harry, grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapped it around the two of them to cover their modesty as he carefully removed himself from inside his younger mate. 

“We need to talk,” Severus said firmly in his silky smooth voice, standing firm on this matter. He wasn’t going to allow this to go on any longer, he didn’t care that as a species these two were near extinction, he didn’t care how lucky Baine had been to find Harry, there was so much more going on in the world and they had to stop pretending otherwise. People were dying and only Harry had the capability to stop it from happening. 

“Fine,” Baine hissed in return. He didn’t want to wake Harry, mostly because his mate needed the sleep but also because this was not going to be a conversation that he wanted the sixteen year old to listen in on. Baine delicately and unhappily manouvered himself out of the position he was in on the sofa, where Harry had been curled around him, caring very little for the fact that he was naked. 

He did pull on his trousers, however, before ushering Severus from the room, leaving the door slightly ajar so that if Harry did wake up then he wouldn’t be far away. He knew that Harry didn’t like it when he just vanished without explanation. Baine motioned to the room across the hallway which was mainly unused, not that he cared about that currently; if Severus expected to be treated civilly then he wouldn’t have shown up unannounced in the middle of the night, it wasn’t like they were going to talk over tea and crumpets at a respectable hour of the morning. 

\--------x

The loss of the warmth of his lover’s body had woken Harry; however, he had kept his eyes firmly closed feigning sleep when he had heard Severus’ voice. The potions master had not sounded happy, not that he ever really sounded ecstatic about anything but his tone now was particularly somber. Harry was curious about what it was these two men had to discuss with such urgency that it required a visit late at night. 

Harry continued to feign sleep until Severus and Baine had left the room, when he was sure that they were in another room of the house, Harry slowly and quietly rolled from the sofa, grabbing his trousers and pulling them on. He felt far too exposed to creep around the house wearing nothing at all, though he did forgo putting his t-shirt on, hoping that he wouldn’t need it and that he and Baine could go back to cuddling when Severus left. 

However, the sound of raised voices caught Harry’s attention as he crept towards the door, not wanting to be heard. He was more than happy for Baine to continue to think that he was asleep. He had been kept in the dark about what was going on for so long that he was curious about what was happening that would bring Severus there so late.

“You can’t keep him here forever,” Severus raged angrily. Harry didn’t need to be in the room to know exactly how angry the potion master was. He had been on the wrong end of Snape’s temper before and it was never a pleasant experience. 

“What else do you suggest?” Baine argued back. “Where else can he go?” 

“He can’t hide from what he’s done, not when he is the only one who can defeat the Dark Lord!” Severus returned and Harry closed his eyes, tears brimming there. He had always known that that would be what it came down to. The prophecy had said that he was the one destined to take down the Voldemort but that didn’t mean that he wanted to, he didn’t. He hated that he had been dragged into this. 

“He killed four people; his precious Order are not going to accept him back without punishment. His muggle relatives could have been swept aside but not Dumbledore. They will see him in Azkaban for killing the old man!” Harry’s breath caught in his throat at Baine’s words, not wanting them to be true.

“Then we must think of another way because like it or not your current fuck buddy is Harry Potter. He’s killed four people, one of them a very powerful wizard and Voldemort has taken full advantage,” Severus declared impatiently. “He thinks that no one can stop now and without Potter, he’s right.” 

Harry had heard enough at these words from Snape. He couldn’t stay here any more, everyone thought that he was a murderer and dead. Voldemort was consuming the world and Harry didn’t think that he could allow that to happen, not while he remained here, living his life of luxury with Baine, never wanting for anything. 

Opening the door, Harry slipped into the hallway, still only wearing his trousers. He had half a mind to storm into the room where Baine and Severus were still arguing and demand answers but he knew that that wouldn’t get him anywhere. Instead Harry padded barefoot down the corridor towards the front door. 

With his mind in a spin as it sunk in that he had killed four people. He didn’t much care about the Dursleys but Dumbledore… he just couldn’t understand why he had no memory of it. All he remembered was waking up in the woodland with Baine wrapped around him, the sense of security and safety that he had felt there. 

Harry didn’t even think twice, he opened the front door and started to run, not looking back. He passed his rowan tree where he had spent many a peaceful hour reading and enjoying the heat of the sun on his skin. He kept running until he was surrounded by trees, still not stopping, not even when he felt himself pass through the wards and he knew then that there was no going back. Harry didn’t even falter, he just kept running, not wanting to stop because he didn’t want to think. 

He came to a stop rather abruptly when a unearthed tree root tripped him. Harry threw his hands up in front of his face as he fell, hitting the ground hard and rolling so that he hit into a tree with a groan of pain. His feet ached terribly, he knew that they were no doubt cut and bloodied and he wouldn’t be able to continue with them so injured. Without his wand though he felt lost and powerless, pulling himself up so that he was leaning against the tree to give himself a moment. 

Tears began to fall down his cheeks as he looked down at the bottoms of his feet that were shredded and bleeding badly. Now that he had stopped he was starting to feel the pain of it ten fold, the adrenaline draining from his body in a rush and desperation filling him instead. 

He let out a loud, frustrated cry, not caring if he was heard but knowing that no matter how far he had run, he was still in the middle of nowhere. It felt as though his own magic was lashing out at the world too, flowing through him like a pulse as he buried his head in his hands and broke down into distressed sobs, his anguished thoughts consuming him. 

It took him a few seconds to realise that while his heart ached with all he had just learned, the pain in his feet had faded to nothing, and the surprise of that brought him up short, as he peered down at his filthy but completely healed soles.The relief of this was short lived as several loud cracks sounded all around him. Several Aurors and Order members were suddenly surrounding him, wands out and pointing directly at him. 

Harry froze in fear, not knowing what to do. He had no way of defending himself without his wand and the last thing he wanted to do was turn into the creature that they feared. He didn’t want to hurt them like he had hurt Dumbledore and the Dursley’s. It was fortunate that Baine had been teaching him how to control the transformations and not let his emotions take over and force the Nundu out. 

“Easy, Potter,” a man whom Harry recognized instantly as Mad-Eye Moody said. Harry, who had been struggling to focus on anything other than controlling himself and stopping the transformation until then turned and made eye contact with this man, looking at him curiously. 

“We just need to talk to you, Harry,” a more kindly voice said. Harry turned to look at the woman that had spoken, recognising her too. Tonks. People that he knew and thought were his friends and allies were here, all of them pointing their wands at him, scared of what he might do to them.

“You’ve come to take me away,” Harry said desperately, looking around at the other faces that were there, not recognising most of the others. Though some of them he did and they were painful to see Charlie Weasley was among one of those that had circled him and it made Harry’s heart hurt. 

“We just need to talk to you about what happened,” Tonks said, realising that out of all of them here she was the only woman and the least threatening to the sixteen year old. Against her better judgement, Tonks lowered her wand and crouched down so that she was on the same level as the teenager, her heart beating rapidly in her chest out of fear. 

“I don’t remember,” Harry said desperately, “I don’t know what I did, I’ve only heard what others have said… I would never have hurt them intentionally,” he said desperately, meeting Tonks’ eyes and pleading with her to believe him. 

“I know,” Tonks said gently, wishing that Remus was here. He would have known what to do and what to say to the teenager, however she suspected that he had been left out of this search intentionally. Remus was far too sympathetic to the boys plight and that was something that they didn’t need when trying to arrest him. “That’s why we need to talk to you, to figure out what happened.” 

“Where are you going to take me?” Harry asked fearfully, not knowing what to do or where to turn. Only Tonks was acting at all kindly to him but his instincts were telling him not to trust her. He wanted Baine to come and rescue him but without transforming into their other forms they didn’t stand a chance against so many Auror’s. 

“We don’t have a choice,” Tonks said gently, not wanting to say the actual word, knowing that it would get a very negative reaction if she did. Harry didn’t need for her to say it, his eyes going wide with fear at the unspoken knowledge that he was going to be going to Azkaban. 

\-------------------x

Baine, having realised very quickly that Harry had gone, thanks to Emmy alerting him and Severus, had taken off at a run. He didn’t even bothering to dress himself any further, far too concerned about what Harry had overheard and wanting to catch up to him. Severus had remained behind, feeling rather smug with himself that Harry finally knew the truth. 

It was unfortunate that Baine just wasn’t quite fast enough and it wasn’t until he heard the outraged cry, followed by the sharp cracks of several witches and wizards apperating in that he realised he was too late. 

“Fuck!” he cursed loudly, rushing towards the sounds of disapparition, his eyes darting around the area, already knowing it was futile. His little mate wasn’t here anymore and was now in the hands of others. “Fuck,” he cursed again angrily, hands clenching into fists and slamming into the nearest tree. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down and control himself and his Nundu as he desperately tried to work out what to do now, what his next move was going to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please take the time to leave me a comment and let me know what you thought.


	7. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus show's Harry the truth about the night he first turned while Baine tries to rescue him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to apologise for this taking so long. Real life has exploded on me and it's a struggle to find time to write. However I am working hard to get these updates to you. I really hope you enjoy this one.

“You cannot go to Voldemort,” Severus said with exasperation when Baine had told his plan of action to his friend. Baine had been in a panic when he had seen the Order of the Phoenix take away his submissive mate and he was determined to get Harry back; however, he knew that he couldn’t do that on his own, not when it was more than likely that they had taken the teenager to Azkaban.

“Why not?” Baine challenged as he charged around his home looking for clean robes, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to arrive in the presence of his master wearing only trousers. He needed to think rationally, something that he was struggling to do currently. 

“It’s a suicide mission,” Severus said sternly. He felt no guilt in the fact that Harry had been taken away by the Order, he actually thought that it was the best thing that could have happened. With Harry hiding at Leithope Manor they were all at a stalemate in this war and if this was the only way to overcome that, then so be it. 

“No it isn’t,” Baine said confidently. “The Dark Lord won’t want Harry hurt once he has all of the facts.” On this Baine was sure; he might not have been content serving under Lord Voldemort but there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Harry, his submissive was too rare to let him go without a fight. 

“What are you going to do?” Severus demanded, unsure how his usually intelligent friend could be acting with such disregard. He honestly didn’t think that the Baine and Potter could love each other after such a short time. “Tell him Potter has part of his soul and advise him to protect the boy? That is ridiculous.” Severus honestly couldn’t imagine how this would help anything but there was clearly no dissuading his friend from this course of action. 

Severus had learnt very early on that Baine was rather stubborn and once he had an idea in his head that was it, there would be nothing that could be said or done to change his mind. The potions master was cursing the day that Baine had met Harry, it should never have happened this way. 

“So ridiculous that it might actually work,” Baine said, turning to Severus, finally fully dressed and ready to leave. “I can’t do nothing,” he said with a sigh, realising that he might actually get Severus on his side if he told him everything, even if he didn’t want to. He could not easily forget that it had been Severus’ fault that Harry had run off and he was sure that the potions master had not done it by accident; however, all Baine could think of was getting his submissive back with him. Once he had Harry back at his side then he would deal with what Severus had done. 

“Why not?” Severus demanded. “The Order have him now, he is where he belongs. Perhaps when this war is over then you can have him back but until then…” 

“No,” Baine said with finality, not having any of it. “He is mine and he will not be used in this war like a puppet on strings, ready to be thrown away the moment that it’s over. Besides I don’t want him fighting, not if he’s…” 

“Not if he’s what?” Severus asked, his eyes narrowed into a glare at his friend, not liking where this conversation was going. He had a fair idea what Baine was hinting at and he didn’t like it one bit. 

“With how young he is, with how fertile…” 

“Please tell me you were not that stupid,” Severus spat in disbelief. It was his worst nightmare confirmed. The last thing that they needed was more Nundu’s in the world. They were dangerous creatures and damn near unstoppable when in their animal forms, something the Dark Lord would use to his full advantage if he knew and if Baine went through with his plan then he would no doubt find out too. Severus couldn’t see how this wouldn’t end in disaster. 

“He is my mate,” Baine said defensively. He would not have Severus lecture him about this, he and Harry were following their instincts, preserving their species by having cubs, he would not be told that that was wrong. 

Furious, Severus knew that he was going to have to salvage this situation as best he could. Baine could not go to Voldemort and profess his love for a teenager that was possibly pregnant, not when that teenager was Harry Potter and their master’s most powerful rival. Baine would end up tortured or dead if he did that, they had to spin it in a way that made the idea attractive to the Dark Lord. 

“Have you thought any on what you will say?” Severus asked, feeling rather exasperated with his friend at this point, trying to conceal his anger at the possible pregnancy. The whole situation was getting a little out of hand at this point and he felt as if he had to salvage it as best as possible; he could deal with the baby Nundu’s if and when they became a certainty, until then he had other things that he had to deal with. “You will need to make it seem like it will benefit only the Dark Lord, otherwise he will not help you.” 

“What do you suggest I say then?” Baine asked, willing to listen to his friend. Despite his faults, Severus had never lead him wrong before and Baine had to admit that the potions master might have a point this time. Voldemort was not exactly well known for his good temper and kind nature, nor for his sympathy in regards to the plight of others. 

“You will need to assure him that Harry is completely under your control, that he is your bitch and nothing else. The Dark Lord will assume that because he can control you then by extension he can control Potter,” Severus said, trying to reason with his friend, knowing that the next suggestion was not going to be taken well. “I also suggest you make it known what you are, you can use it to your advantage.” 

Severus didn’t like telling the Dark Lord outright that he had control of a Nundu, however, it was going to come out one way or another, the best they could do was figure out a way to use it to their advantage. Severus didn’t want for Voldemort to triumph here, however it seemed that all his efforts were going to be futile if they didn’t play this the right way. 

“I have spent years concealing what I am from the Dark Lord, always fearing what he might do to me, how he might exploit me if he knew,” Baine hissed harshly, not liking what Severus was suggesting. He knew that he was walking a thin line and everything that the potions master was suggesting would ultimately lead to what he had hidden for years being exposed. However, he knew that because of Harry it was likely to all come out anyway but that didn’t mean he had to like it. 

“It is now well known what Potter is,” Severus snapped impatiently, “if you go ahead with your foolish plan then he will find out regardless. It will be better for you to be forthcoming with the information, it may help your cause.” 

“Fine,” Baine snapped unhappily. “I will go the the Dark Lord and do as you suggest; however, you need to make use of your connections in the Order, make sure that they don’t hurt him because I swear, if they do, I will tear them limb from limb.” 

Severus nodded, knowing full well that Baine was not joking about this. It was becoming rather clear to the potions master that his friend had grown to care for Harry more than he would have thought was possible in the short time that they had been together. Also, if Harry truly was pregnant then he felt a little sorry for the sixteen year old, who was probably already locked in a cell in Azkaban. 

 

\--------------x 

Alone and cold, Harry sobbed quietly in the little stone room that he had been contained in. He hadn’t been there long and the Dementors had not been near him yet but that didn’t make him feel any happier. The teenager had curled himself into a ball in the very corner of the room, too scared to move or to make a noise. 

Since he had arrived, one hand had been resting on his belly protectively. It was still as flat as ever but he had been feeling a little nauseous the past few days and he was hoping that it meant he and Baine were going to be having cubs. At least that was what he had been hoping before he had ended up in Azkaban. 

Harry had not spared much thought to the wizarding prison. Hagrid had been sent here when Harry had been twelve and in his second year of school, he remembered vividly how the half-giant had not wanted to discuss it and now the sixteen year old understood why. There was nothing redeeming about this place, the smell of rot would likely never leave his nostrils, the feeling of utter despair hung depressingly heavy in the air making Harry struggle to breath. 

The sound of footsteps caught Harry’s attention and he slowed his breathing down even more, preparing himself for what was to come, readying himself to attack and protect himself from the people that had put him here. However, he was taken by surprise when the door to his cell opened revealing Tonks. She was smiling sweetly, her hair bubblegum-pink, eyes a soft hazle and in her hands a tray with a steaming mug of tea and the most beautiful looking chicken sandwiches that Harry had ever seen. 

She stood in the doorway of the cell alone and looking rather nervous, though to her credit her hands were completely steady as she took a hesitant step towards him. “How are you, Harry?” she asked gently as if speaking to loudly or too harshly would set Harry off into an uncontrollable rage. 

Struggling to breath normally, he had been here for a handful of hours now and the impact of the place was getting to him already but he still managed a glare in her direction at the stupid question. “I’m in Azkaban, how do you think I am?” he responded, making no move to come closer to her. He could smell how scared she was and he was curious as to why she was here, he didn’t want to scare her away before he found out.

“Sorry,” she said, having the decency to look a little ashamed that she had asked such a stupid question. “I brought you something to eat, I thought you might be hungry.”

“Five star treatment in Azkaban,” Harry said with as much amusement he could muster. “I thought I was a murderer, why do I get such special treatment?” Harry couldn’t help but be suspicious of what their plan was, if he knew anything about the Order then it was that they always had an ulterior motive. 

“I didn’t want them to bring you here,” Tonks said with a sigh, placing the tray down in the middle of the room and sitting down, crossing her legs as she did. Harry, however, did not move to join her. “Remus and I think that what happened, it wasn’t your fault. He understands what it’s like to have something inside of you that you can’t control. Mad-Eye thought it was a bad idea to let Remus come here but I managed to convince him that I should be the one to talk to you.” 

“I know what I’ve done,” Harry said softly, starting to relax a little. Remus might not have been exactly like him but Tonks was right, he would understand what it was like having an animal inside of him more better than anyone else could. “I just don’t remember actually doing it,” he admitted after a moment of hesitation. 

“Remus told me that that was what his first transformation was like,” Tonks said with a sad sigh, watching Harry closely as the teenager shuffled a little closer, suspiciously inspecting the tray of food and drink. “We’re going to try and get you out of here,” she said and to her credit she sounded sincere. 

Edging forward so that he was within reaching distance of the tray, though only just, he took a closer look at the sustenance that she offered, still not trusting that Tonks was here to help him. He really wanted to believe that she was and that what she was saying was the truth but Harry’s instincts were going wild. He felt hollow, being away from his Pride was putting him on edge and making him suspicious of everyone and everything around him. 

“Do you know what I am?” Harry asked, switching his gaze from the food to the Auror in front of him. He was impressed by the fact that she seemed so calm and in control. Though, just because she didn’t show her fear, didn’t mean that Harry couldn’t smell it leaking from her pores.

“Unfortunately it is common knowledge,” Tonks said carefully, making sure to meet Harry’s eyes. She didn’t want him to know how terrified she was of being alone in the room with him, she needed him to believe that she was confident and felt secure in her abilities to defend herself, though in reality she knew that she stood no chance against a Nundu, not even a sixteen year old one. 

“I’m guessing that’s why I ended up here,” Harry said sadly. He hated that these people, whom he had thought he could trust, had put him here but he did kind of understand why if they knew what he was. 

“Some thought that it was best to take precautions,” Tonks said, still watching Harry closely. “Harry,” she added after a moment of silence, clearly unsure of whether she had the courage to ask this question, “where have you been since you ran away?” 

Harry stalled, not sure that he should tell her anything about Baine. He knew what their reactions would be to the fact that he had been living with a known deatheater. If the Order knew that then it would only make the whole situation worse, he was sure. Harry’s instinct was to protect his Pride, even if it was only him and Baine right now. 

“I don’t know,” Harry lied, “I just kept going, surviving.” 

Tonks sighed, knowing that Harry was lying. He had been protected by powerful wards that he had not created himself. He had used no magic at all since leaving Privet Drive, accidental or otherwise, not until last night when they had caught him. Remus was currently looking into any known property in the area that they had found the teenager, wanting to know who had harboured him while he had been on the run.

“You really should eat,” she said with a kind smile, watching as Harry tentatively picked up the tea cup. She wanted to hold her breath with anticipation, however, she didn’t want to give away her desperation for him to drink it. 

Raising the cup to his lips, Harry hesitated. The smell of tea wafted up his nostrils welcomingly, but there was something else, so faint that no human nose would have been able to pick it up. It was almost undetectable even to his more advanced sense of smell but there was no denying that there was some form of potion in the tea. He was no expert, so he couldn’t decipher what potion it was but there was no doubt in his mind that they were trying to poison him. 

Tensing up, Harry growled, throwing the hot liquid into Tonks face. “Trying to poison me!” he yelled with a vicious growl, scuttling back into his corner, wrapping his arms around himself in defence. Tonks had screamed as the hot liquid had been thrown into her face, still hot enough to hurt her thanks to the warming charms that had been placed on it. She had known that it was a bad idea to put veritasium into the drink but Moody had been insistent. 

In the blink of an eye several other people had crowded into the small room. A few took Tonks and lead her out to be treated, three other wizards remained however and they did nothing to ease Harry’s tension. The three that had remained were Moody, Shacklebolt and Snape. Only the latter of which was Harry uncertain of. Severus was Baine’s friend, it gave him hope that his mate might come for him, but what might happen to him before that scared the teenager. 

“Please,” Harry pleaded, knowing that it was futile to beg but knowing that he had to try regardless, “let me go, please.” 

“So you can hurt others?” Moody barked out harshly. “Not a chance Potter.” 

“I’ve learnt to control it,” Harry insisted. “I can control my transformations I swear it, I won’t hurt anyone.” 

“You might feel differently once you see what you have done,” Severus hissed, withdrawing his wand. It was in that moment that Harry realised that despite the potion master’s loyalty to Baine, Snape was not there to help him. 

Harry recoiled at the man’s words, knowing what it meant for him. He didn’t want to know what he had done, he didn’t want to see the maimed and mangled bodies of his Aunt, Uncle and cousin and especially not of Dumbledore, whom he had actually liked. 

“No,” Harry said, his voice soft and filled with terror. “Please don’t,” he pleaded, looking directly at Severus and ignoring all of the others. He cared very little for the other two wizards, who seemed to be there simply to control him and to allow Severus to unlock his memories of what had happened on the night of the 31st July. 

“It’s for your own good, Potter,” Moody growled but his words didn’t have any effect on Harry, who would not take his eyes off Severus. He knew that the man had loved his mother and he hoped that by looking at him through her eyes that Severus would feel a small amount of pity. However, it seemed that Snape was beyond that now.

Severus pointed his wand directly at Harry without a flicker of remorse in his beetle black eyes. “Legilimens.” 

Harry did not have the energy nor the capability to stop the potions master as he invaded his mind. Even if Harry had had his wand with him he still wouldn’t have been able to stop Severus, he had never been very good at mind magic. Harry only wished that he had paid more attention on how to fight it as he was taken back to the night that he had murdered four people. 

\-------------x

Baine had swallowed his pride and asked Voldemort for help, going about it exactly how Severus has suggested, selling the idea to the Dark Lord as if it would benefit him the most. It had certainly given Voldemort a lot to consider. He had sent Baine away so that he could consider everything and now Baine was waiting on his master’s decision. 

With every second that passed, Baine was painfully aware that Harry was locked away in Azkaban and there was no telling what was happening to him while he was there. He was almost a nervous wreck when he was summoned back in to see the Dark Lord. It took a lot of composure on Baine’s part to stand still in front of his Lord, not moving and patiently waiting for the decision that Voldemort had made. 

“You have given me much to think about, Mulciber,” the Dark Lord hissed in a low, thoughtful tone. Nagini was curled around the chair in which Voldemort sat, the serpent's head resting on its master’s lap. Baine remained silent, knowing that it was not a time for him to speak; he couldn’t risk angering the Dark Lord, he needed him to help save Harry. “I will need to see the boy, to assess if you are telling me the truth.” 

It was more than anything Baine could have hoped for. He nodded in response, wanting to acknowledge what his Lord had said. “My Lord, can I ask that I be one of your chosen servants to retrieve the boy?” Baine asked. “He will panic otherwise and fight against being taken. I will be able to convince him to come easily.” 

Voldemort pondered this thought for a moment, eyeing Baine with curiosity. He did not believe that Potter was nothing more than a bitch to Mulciber, nor simply a way to gain pups and therefore an heir to his family line. The Dark Lord knew that there was so much more to it but then that was something that he could exploit as well. The idea that Baine could control Potter was an intriguing one; he did not care at all if there was love involved, he thought that that was a bonus as love was such a weakness in men. 

“You will take Lucius,” Voldemort hissed with approval, knowing that Baine was right; sending him was the easiest way of convincing Potter to come quietly, and he did not want any trouble, at least not yet. “Severus should already be there. I believe the Order of the Phoenix wanted to use mind magic on the boy and show him what he did.” 

Baine froze at this, knowing that with Harry being the soft and kind-hearted soul that he was, would not take kindly to knowing what he had done during his first transformation. It made Baine even more desperate to get to his young mate and make sure that Harry was alright; the poor boy was likely broken by now and it made his heart lurch painfully to think about it. 

“Perhaps if the boy’s stomach was not turned by what he did then Potter might even be a useful ally to us. He is a Nundu after all and you have never failed me with your bloodlust, Mulciber,” Voldemort said with a satisfied grin on his face. Baine nodded his head in agreement, itching to leave and go to Harry. 

“We can only hope, my Lord,” Baine replied, knowing full well that he would never permit Harry to become a deatheater, not if there was any other way. Harry was all his, he would not take kindly to another man branding him and besides Harry was not the kind to enjoy the maiming and killing of others, he was no Lord Voldemort that was for sure. 

“You may go,” Voldemort said dismissively with a wave of his hand. Baine bowed gratefully, keen to go and track down Lucius so that they could make their way to Azkaban and find Harry. 

\----------x 

Harry now knew what he had done. Thanks to Severus and his mind magic he had seen the terror on his Aunt’s face as she had seen him in his creature form, blood soaking his muzzle, her husband’s blood, though she had not known that at the time. He could vividly recall the heat of her blood as it filled his mouth as his jaws had closed around her throat. 

In his human form Harry hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days, feasting on his relatives had filled his empty belly; however, the fact that he had known exactly how to kill them to ensure that they didn’t make a sound worried him. His Aunt had made a soft gurgling noise as she had died, her throat having been torn out. 

His cousin had been next, Dudley had been snoring in his bed completely unaware of the fact that he was now an orphan. At this point, Harry’s belly had been full and there had been no need to kill his cousin. However, a small part of Harry’s human mind had remained and he had remembered all of the torments and bullying and he had wanted to revenge. It made Harry feel a little sick to his stomach to know that he had murdered his cousin in cold blood simply because he had wanted to. 

The fact remained though, that he could have lived with it all, killing Vernon, Petunia and even Dudley, they had never been very nice to him, the abuse that he had suffered at the hands of his Aunt, Uncle and cousin had been horrific. What bothered Harry more was that he had killed Dumbledore. 

The headmaster had done nothing but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Harry’s hunger had been sated, all he had wanted was to feel safe. Albus had just arrived at the wrong moment, his presence threatening the newly turned Nundu. Harry had acted on instinct, protecting his territory. He had then of course torn him open as a warning to anyone else who would dare enter his territory. It had worked, of course, because when three deatheaters had come for him they had very quickly backed off and left him alone. That was until Baine arrived, something that Severus had seen and the potions master had not stopped there. He had only pulled out of Harry’s mind when the memory of Harry and Baine fooling around in the forest had surfaced. 

Now they had left him alone. Now Harry knew that he deserved to be in this forsaken place. He knew that it would not be long until the Dementors came to see him. Harry knew how to survive them, Sirius had told him the secret to that, but he wasn’t sure that he deserved to be spared from the misery that they would inflict. He had brutally taken the lives of four people, he wanted to feel that to the very depths of his soul because he deserved it. 

He was feeling terrible, he hadn’t eaten anything since arriving at the wizarding prison and despite that his stomach was churning. He felt as if he needed to be sick, even though he had nothing in his stomach. His temples were throbbing painfully and his eyes were stinging from the many tears that he had shed. 

Harry wasn’t even sure how much time had passed. He knew that it had been late when he had fled Leithope Manor but he couldn’t be sure how much time had passed since then. All he knew was that it felt like an age and all he wanted was to be back with his mate. 

\---------x 

“Bloody hell,” Ron said in a low shocked tone, mouth agape as he read the letter that Errol had just delivered to him. It was early and the post had only just arrived, only Hermione and Ginny who were sat beside Ron heard his words. 

“What is it?” Hermione asked, leaning over Ron’s shoulder to see what it was he had received; he just seemed too shocked to say anything. Ginny was looking at her brother with concern, helping herself to toast as Hermione read the letter over Ron’s shoulder. “Goodness me,” Hermione gasped, going wide eyed at the content of the letter. 

“What?” Ginny asked, looking concerned now. She could see that the letter had been written by her father, there was no doubting his scrawl on the parchment. 

“They found Harry,” Hermione said in utter disbelief. “They’ve put him in Azkaban.” She couldn’t believe that the Order had taken such drastic action, she refused to believe that Harry was that much of a threat that he had to be put in that awful place. 

“Azkaban?” Ginny said in outrage. “How can they put him in there?!” she demanded, hating the thought of her friend being locked up with dementors. All three of them knew what Harry had done, but none of them thought that he deserved to be there. 

“Charged with the murder of three muggles and Albus Dumbledore,” Hermione said in disbelief, “that’s why he’s ended up there and it won’t be long until it hits the papers either,” she added sadly. 

“We can’t leave him there,” Ron said, finally finding his voice. He hated the idea of his best friend locked away in Azkaban with dementors. 

“And we won’t,” Hermione said with a sigh. She was just as against Harry remaining in Azkaban as Ron and Ginny were, however, there was no way that they could just go off on a whim. Her mind was already spinning, trying to figure out how exactly they could break him out. 

\------x 

Lucius Malfoy wasn’t happy about accompanying Mulciber to Azkaban, especially not to rescue the Potter boy. However, his Lord had demanded it of him and he was not one to disobey the Dark Lord. He was even less impressed when he had been told that Mulciber was involved in some form of relationship with the Potter boy. 

Since they had left, hopefully to locate Severus along the way to finding Potter, Lucius had not said anything. He was too disgusted to say anything; he didn’t care about the fact that Mulciber was a Nundu, though he despised half-breeds, what he hated more was unnatural unions. Although not frowned upon in the wizarding world, to purebloods a relationship between two men was almost unheard of. 

Baine cared very little about what Malfoy thought about him, the fact that he was a Nundu and his relationship status with Harry. Rumors and murmuring had spread through the ranks of the deatheaters and now that it was mid-morning, hours after Harry had been taken and they now all knew. 

Lucius and Baine apparated into the visitors’ entrance way to Azkaban where Severus was waiting for them. The wizarding prison was, unbeknownst to the rest of the wizarding world, completely under Voldemort’s control. The Dementors had aligned themselves with the Dark Lord and that meant the three wizards had free reign of the prison. 

“Severus,” Baine greeted rather coolly. He wasn’t overly pleased with his friend right now; nothing that the man had done had been to help him or Harry. It was Severus’ fault that Harry had ended up here at all and also that Harry now knew what he had done on the night of his first transformation. 

It didn’t help matters that Baine was rather on edge; knowing that he was so close to Harry and yet couldn’t reach him without Severus’ help was the only thing keeping him civil. It took every ounce of his self reserve not to bite the potion master’s head off. 

“Shall we get this over with?” Lucius suggested, the tension in the room too much for him to be bothered with it. He didn’t understand why he had to be here anyway, it was none of his concern what happened to the Potter boy and he certainly didn’t like him. 

“Indeed,” Severus said rather cooly. He did not miss the tone that Baine had used to greet him and he knew that he had not kept his friend in mind when he had made the decisions that he had recently, but this whole situation as bigger than just one person. The potions master as trying to bring this war to an end and if he lost Baine as a friend because of that, then so be it. 

“Take me to him,” Baine said rather impatiently. He knew that he was better than either of these two men, he could have taken both of them down in a heartbeat, however, that would have been messy and time consuming. 

\------x 

Harry couldn’t take any more of the misery, even though he knew that he deserved to feel this pain, it was a struggle to even draw breath. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had arrived at Azkaban but the horrors of his past were starting to overwhelm him. 

Still only dressed in Baine’s trousers as he had been the night he had fled Leithope Manor, Harry gingerly began to unbutton them. His only hope of surviving any length of him in this place and keeping his sanity in tact then he was going to have to transform. Harry was amazingly glad that Baine had taught him how to control the transformation otherwise his fear would have taken over any rational thought and the transformation would have taken over long ago. 

Forcing his trousers down with shaking hands, Harry felt entirely vulnerable sitting in the corner of his Azkaban cell, completely naked. He moved to his hands and knees, knowing that this position would make it easier. Only then did Harry allow the fear to take over, triggering the transformation, screaming as the Nundu tore through him, coming to the surface. 

It felt strangely comforting to be back in his animal form. The confidence that surged through him, his fur acting as a buffer from the misery that was surrounding him. However, the Nundu did not like being caged up and the depression that had been consuming Harry in human form swiftly morphed into anger now that he had transformed into his Nundu. 

He still didn’t feel right; he was away from his mate. In this form he knew that he was carrying his mate’s cubs, he didn’t know why but he just did, there was something in the animal part of his brain that was very satisfied about it too. Curling in on himself, making himself as small as possible, Harry cowered in the back corner of his cell, protecting his stomach most of all. 

Movement outside of his cell had Harry letting out a low warning growl. He didn’t want to hurt anyone else, he was in this form to protect himself and his cubs from the dementors, not to kill anyone else. Whoever was outside didn’t seem to care because they were trying to get into of his cell.

\---------------x

“You can’t go in there, he’s a Nundu, he’ll kill you,” Severus said sharply, pulling Baine away from the cell door, determined not to just let him charge inside. As much as he and his friend were disagreeing about things right now he didn’t want to see Baine become another of Potter’s victims. 

“I can if I turn too,” Baine said with a growl, roughly yanking his arm out of Severus’ grip before starting to hastily strip down, keen to be with his mate and make sure that Harry was alright. It took a matter of seconds before Baine was fully undressed and Lucius was looking at him in utter disgust. He didn’t appreciate nudity. 

“What if you kill us?” Lucius demanded. “Once you turn you’ll be just as out of control as Potter.” He refused to die in a dingy corridor in Azkaban prison, being mauled to death by a creature that wasn’t supposed to exist. 

“I’ve been a Nundu for a long time, Malfoy,” Baine snapped, refusing to allow either Severus nor Lucius stop him from going to his mate. “I am not some teenager, I have learnt to control it.” This was the only way he was going to be able to get to Harry safely and he cared very little for what these two thought about what he was going to do next. 

“We will wait for you,” Severus said, not wanting to stick around to see this, motioning for Lucius to follow him away from Baine. Severus had seen Baine and Harry fornicating enough times to last him several lifetimes; he was more than happy to walk away for the moment and let them be. 

Baine, however, headed back to Harry’s cell, his wand in hand; his heart was hammering in his chest. Part of him wanted to transform now, but he knew he would need his human mind and body to be able to actually get passed the bars holding his mate. 

“Harry,” Baine said under his breath as he came to stand in front of the cell, feeling the anger of having been separated from his mate all over again as he took in the sight of the the submissive Nundu curled up in the corner.

Baine pulled out his wand and undid the spells on the bars, causing Harry to growl at him warningly. He could tell that Harry wasn’t going to attack him, not while he wasn’t posing any real threat, and so he quickly discarded the wand back with the clothes he had removed and focused on the anger he had felt at having Harry taken away from him and pushed himself into the transformation. 

It was only seconds before he was in his Nundu form and he hurried back to cage, nudging the unlocked bars open with his muzzle. He was rather surprised when Harry gave another warning growl, so hastily Baine went down on to his stomach, wanting to make it clear that he was no threat. 

He wasn’t sure why Harry was reacting so negatively to him. Even after his first transformation Harry had been relaxed and instantly calmed to his presence. Something wasn’t right with his mate and Baine was desperate to find out what. Baine let out a soft whine, edging a little closer, shuffling along the stone floor on his belly. 

Another low growl from Harry had Baine freeze, not wanting to antagonize his young mate further. Taking a long inhale of air through his nose, he tried to figure out what was wrong with the teenager and why he was acting this way. Though all he could smell was the decay and rot of the centuries old prison, he couldn’t smell Harry at all. He wished that they could talk and work things out rationally but he knew that it just wasn’t possible, if he transformed now then Harry would see him as a threat and attack, he had to make the best of the situation they were in. 

Realising that if he couldn’t smell Harry then Harry probably couldn’t smell him either, Baine remained on his belly, a foot away from his mate and gave another small whine. He needed for Harry to come to him, for his mate to realise that he was here to help and not to hurt him. 

It took a few minutes before Harry realised that Baine was not going anywhere. He wasn’t attacking, he wasn’t leaving, he was just laying there. Curious as to what this other Nundu was doing here, Harry looked over to him, wondering if this was his mate. The overwhelming depression and sadness that had encompassed him since he had been here had muddled with his brain. He couldn’t smell Baine and he couldn’t be sure that this Nundu was his mate or not but to find out one way or another he would have to get closer. 

Baine was thrilled when Harry raised his head and looked at him curiously. He remained very still and allowed Harry to edge closer to him, relieved when he began to pick up his young mate’s scent. He was very careful not to move as Harry shuffled so that they were nose to nose, staring into one another’s eyes. 

Harry inhaled deeply, wanting to be sure. He wasn’t sure that he could trust his senses after being confined in Azkaban for the many hours that he had. He couldn’t imagine being here for any serious length of time, he dreaded to think what would happen to him if he were. Before he started the transformation back into human form he needed to be very sure that this was his mate and he meant no harm to him. There was no way that he could fight off an attacker, he was too small and he wouldn’t risk his litter for anything. 

The second Baine realised that Harry was starting to turn back to his human form, he too began to change. He didn’t want to remain in his Nundu form any longer than necessary right now, they needed to get out of here as quickly as possible. Though it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire because he was expected to report with Harry to Voldemort as soon as they were clear of Azkaban. 

“I’m so sorry,” Harry said the second that he had regained his human voice box. It was his own fault that this had happened, he never should have left the safety of the Leithope Manor and now everyone knew that Harry was alive and that he was a murderer. “I overheard you and Professor Snape talking and I freaked out. I killed Dumbledore, my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. I didn’t know what to think, I just needed to get away from it all, I didn’t want to think about it. I’m so sorry.” 

“Hush,” Baine said, grabbing Harry and pulling the teenager towards him. All he wanted to do was hold his mate close and make sure that he was alright, both of them completely naked in the middle of a cell in Azkaban as the younger of the two began to sob hysterically. “I should have told you,” Baine said in a hushed whisper, “I shouldn’t have tried to shield you from it all.” 

Harry turned his head into Baine’s chest and continued to cry, hating what he had done but feeling comfort in being back in his mate's arms. He didn’t know what to think anymore; people he thought he could trust had turned against him and locked him in Azkaban and here he was snuggling with a known deatheater. 

Harry’s whole world had turned upside down and he didn’t know what side he was on in this war anymore, all he did know was that Baine was here and they were going to have a litter of cubs. Nothing else was going to matter to Harry, he didn’t want to think about the war or about Voldemort. Nothing else mattered to him other than Baine and their litter of cubs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter. I know it's been a long time coming so I appreciate your patience.

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think? I'm working on the next few chapters but it's a rare pairing and I've never seen this creature used as a inheritance fic before so I'm looking for honest opinions please. 
> 
> Also, don't forget to come and find me on facebook, my name is Strawbie Girrl. That is where you'll find all the updates on what I'm writing and usually just having a general chat about it too.


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